Hackers stole Acer’s data and extorted $50 million

Acer is a long-established PC manufacturer known for manufacturing notebook computers and monitors. It currently has more than 7,000 employees worldwide, and its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 is as high as $3 billion.

However, no matter how large a company is, it will not escape the fate of being targeted and invaded by hacker organizations. Recently, the REvil hacker group posted a blog post stating that they invaded Acer’s internal network and stole various documents including financial forms.

The REvil organization announced that Acer needs to pay 50 million US dollars before March 28, or they will leak the information. According to the chat records of the negotiation between REvil and Acer employees provided by the media, REvil said that if Acer can give money last Wednesday, then the fee can be discounted by 20%.

When the media confirmed the matter to Acer officials, an Acer spokesperson did not directly respond to whether they had been ransomed by REvil but said that large companies like them are often attacked and have reported to law enforcement agencies in many countries.

When the media wanted to know more about this matter, Acer directly refused: “Acer routinely monitors its IT systems, and most cyberattacks are well defensed. Companies like us are constantly under attack, and we have reported recent abnormal situations observed to the relevant law enforcement and data protection authorities in multiple countries.”

“We have been continuously enhancing our cybersecurity infrastructure to protect business continuity and our information integrity. We urge all companies and organizations to adhere to cybersecurity disciplines and best practices, and be vigilant to any network activity abnormalities.” – Acer.”

Later, Intel’s Andariel cyber intelligence platform said that they detected that the key for the hacker’s invasion of Acer was Microsoft’s Exchange server.

Via: bleepingcomputer