Accenture, a global consulting company, revealed on Wednesday that it had been the victim of a cyberattack, the latest in a series of companies attacked in recent months.
LockBit Cybercriminal Group Attacked Accenture
In a recently published article in The Hill, the business had been the victim of a ransomware assault by the LockBit cybercriminal gang, according to a news source; and the hackers would disclose encrypted Accenture data if the ransom was not paid by the end of the day Wednesday.
According to images of the website examined by CNN Business and Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm, LockBit, stated that unless Accenture (ACN) pays the ransom, the company's encrypted data would be released on the dark web on Wednesday.
Stacey Jones, an Accenture spokesperson, said "Through our security controls and protocols, we identified irregular activity in one of our environments. We immediately contained the matter and isolated the affected servers. We fully restored our affected systems from back up. There was no impact on Accenture's operations, or on our clients' systems," according to CNN news.
The LockBit gang is identical to its RaaS brothers DarkSide and REvil, according to Cybereason's Tony Bradley in a Wednesday post. LockBit rents out its ransomware platform via an affiliate arrangement, receiving a share of any ransom payments.
Previous Attacks of LockBit
According to an Emsisoft description of the LockBit ransomware gang, it first appeared in September 2019. LockBit, like many other ransomware groups, licenses its harmful software to third-party criminal associates in return for a share of the payment.
Interpol issued a warning the following year about an increase in assaults using the LockBit dangerous software. According to Emsisoft, the group's major victims include Merseyrail, a UK rail network, and the Press Trust of India, an Indian journalistic company.
Following a series of assaults against corporate and infrastructure targets, the U.S. government has declared ransomware to be a serious danger to national and economic security. Colonial Pipeline was forced to shut down its fuel distribution business earlier this year due to an assault by the organization DarkSide, resulting in national gasoline shortages, according to Threat Post.
Other Cyber Attacks in the U.S.
JBS Foods, one of the world's biggest meat suppliers, was targeted by the criminal group REvil. A second assault by the same gang, which targeted the IT software provider Kaseya, infected an estimated 1,500 small companies worldwide.
Former members of the REvil ransomware gang may have linked themselves with LockBit after REvil's abrupt departure after the Kaseya assault, according to Brett Callow, a security analyst at Emsisoft.
Meanwhile, the assault follows an uptick in ransomware and other cyberattacks on American businesses. In May, attacks on Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 45 percent of the East Coast's gasoline, and meat manufacturer JBS USA by two different Russian-linked ransomware gangs crippled key supply lines.
Ransomware assaults have become more common in hospitals, schools, and government institutions since hackers perceive these organizations as weak and more likely to pay.
