The French company Thales, a leader in defense and technology, confirmed on Friday that the hacker collective LockBit 3.0 had posted some of its stolen information on the dark web.
Thales acknowledged in a follow-up message on Friday that hackers’ earlier boasts about stealing and publishing items turned out to be all-too true. Thales had earlier this week first disclosed that hackers were claiming they stole some of its data and threatening to post it.
The Paris-based corporation issued a statement stating that “on November 10, 2022, an extortion and ransomware group (LockBit 3.0) disclosed on its publication platform material belonging to Thales Group.” “At this time, Thales is able to affirm that its IT systems have not been compromised.”
“Thales security experts have identified one of the two likely sources of the theft, which has been validated through the user account of a partner on a dedicated collaboration platform,” the company continued. Due to this, a small quantity of information has been revealed.
Thales “continues to investigate the second source of theft,” according to the business, and it “is working closely with its partner and is providing all of the required technical support and resources to reduce any potential harm to concerned customers and stakeholders.” “Thales reiterates that, as of yet, there is no impact on the Group’s activities,” the business said in its conclusion.
It was impossible to get in touch with a Thales official for feedback. Thales’ shares fell by around 8.4% after publishing its details on the hack.
Thales, which offers cutting-edge technologies in the fields of defense, aviation, space, and transportation, has a strong market presence in the United States and even boasted to CRN two years ago that it intended to grow its already robust channel business here and abroad.
As the U.S. federal government demands increased cyber vigilance on the part of government vendors, the LockBit 3.0 breach at Thales occurs.
Initiating its own Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, the Department of Defense, among others, mandated that defense-industry contractors and subcontractors considerably strengthen their cyber defenses.
The most recent version of the LockBit ransomware, dubbed LockBit 3.0, is a malicious program that “blocks user access to computer systems in exchange for a ransom payment,” according to Kaspersky.
A LockBit 3.0 ransomware affiliate was “using phishing emails to install the Amadey Bot to take control of a device and encrypt gadgets,” according to a Bleeping Computer report from earlier this week.