A known ransomware group on Monday started publishing data allegedly stolen from the systems of Japanese watchmaking giant Seiko.
Seiko revealed on August 10 that it had identified a possible data breach on July 28, with someone gaining access to at least one server. An investigation showed that some information may have been compromised.
“The Company and all our Group companies kindly ask our customers and business partners to contact us immediately if you receive any suspicious or unusual emails or notifications from us,” Seiko said.
The ransomware group known as BlackCat and ALPHV has now taken credit for the attack and has started leaking files apparently taken from Seiko systems after the victim refused to respond to its extortion attempts.
The cybercriminals claim to have stolen 2 Tb worth of files, including employee information, production technology details, video and audio recordings of management meetings, emails, and copies of passports belonging to employees and foreign visitors.
The ransomware group has published screenshots to demonstrate that they have obtained contracts and other corporate documents, confidential technical documents, passport copies, and emails. One screenshot seems to show that they still had access to Seiko email systems on August 14.
The hackers are threatening to either sell or leak the information stolen from Seiko if the company refuses to meet their demands.
The BlackCat group has targeted several major companies in the past year, including Australian law firm HWL Ebsworth, Reddit, Canadian software company Constellation Software, and US payments giant NCR.
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