Defense Secrets Exposed: Global Cyberattack Hits Swiss Air and More
Ultra Intelligence & Communications (Ultra I&C), the American subsidiary of the British defense corporation Ultra, has fallen victim to an attack by the ransomware group ALPHV (BlackCat).
Information surfaced on the dark web indicating that the hackers of ALPHV have leaked Ultra I&C’s data on their blog. According to their claims, during the attack on December 27, 2023, 30 GB of data were stolen. Representatives of Ultra I&C have not yet commented on the news of the leak.
ALPHV’s publication includes a variety of information, encompassing audit, financial, and personal data of employees. The criminals assert that the stolen data contains information about the FBI, NATO, Switzerland, Israel, and several defense companies.
“Ninja Hacker” by dustball is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
The Swiss Federal Office for Defense confirmed that the data leak impacted the country’s Air Force, and Ultra I&C promptly informed the Swiss government about the cyberattack.
The Swiss Federal Department of Defense stated that incidents of this nature are always taken very seriously, and as such, the department is currently conducting a thorough investigation. However, according to current data, the operational systems of the Swiss Army have not been affected by the cyberattack. So far, only commercial data has been published by the hackers.
The Swiss Federal Department of Defense also clarified that their systems are not dependent on a single supplier or system, allowing for the individual protection of their IT systems. The significance of the data published on the ALPHV leak site is currently being assessed.
Ultra I&C provides services in military and intelligence encryption and communication to defense sector companies, making the data breach a potential catastrophe for the affected companies and organizations.
ALPHV has become one of the most notorious ransomware cartels in recent years. Notably, it was behind the attacks on MGM Resorts and Caesars International in Las Vegas in September, resulting in the latter paying a ransom of 15 million dollars.
