MOSCOW, Russia – The Clop cybercrime gang, reportedly based in Russia, has issued an ultimatum on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, to British and other companies impacted by a recent significant payroll data breach, according to the BBC.
The hacking group is believed to have been responsible for the hack announced last week, which resulted in the theft of payroll data of over 100,000 staff from firms including the BBC, British Airways, and high-street pharmacy Boots.
The gang has reportedly posted a notice on the dark web, in broken English, warning affected companies to email them by June 14, 2023, or face the publication of their private data.
In a blog post attributed to the Clop group, it read: “This is announcement to educate companies who use Progress MOVEit product that chance is that we download a lot of your data as part of exceptional exploit.”
The group further prompted the victim organizations to initiate a negotiation by sending an email to the hackers via their dark web portal.
Companies are strongly advised not to meet the hackers’ potential ransom demands. The hackers gained access to the data by infiltrating a popular business software service named MOVEit, exploiting this access to breach the databases of potentially hundreds of companies.
Other targets include Irish airline Aer Lingus, the government of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the University of Rochester in the United States.
Zellis, the UK’s leading payroll provider, acknowledged earlier this week that eight of its clients had been affected by the “global issue”, potentially exposing personal information such as names, addresses, and banking details.
Analysts at Microsoft identified Clop as the likely culprits on Monday, June 5, 2023, based on the hacking techniques used in the breach.
