Just last week, a renowned gaming giant, CAPCOM, suffered a data breach. The hacking incident significantly affected the gaming giant’s internal network systems, and hackers taking away more than 1 terabyte (TB) of sensitive company information. It was immediately identified that the hacking attack was made using the Ragnar Locker Ransomware, a somewhat notorious malware-rigged software especially designed and engineered to exfiltrate data from any internal network.
All it takes is for the hackers to perform the initial access to the network, and the ransomware does the rest. As soon as all the intended data are exfiltrated, the malware proceeds encryption right away. At that point, the hackers move to contact the victims and notify them that their valuable information has been taken hostage and inaccessible unless they pay a hefty amount in return.
This is how ransomware normally operates – Exfiltration, Encryption, then Extortion.
Being the excellent hackers that they are, the group immediately notified CAPCOM personnel via a ransom note regarding the intrusion and provided proofs of their endeavor:
An independent Malware Tracking Team also noticed the attack and confirmed that the Ragnar Locker Ransomware is behind the attack on Capcom. Security researchers revealed that the hackers are demanding an amount of US$11 million (in Bitcoin, of course) in exchange for a decryptor key and release the stolen data. This attack was apparently made simultaneously with another hacking incident of a beverage company called Campari. The amount requested by the hackers was allegedly US$15 million.
Security analysts were quick to point out that the same hacking group performed the attacks and that their digital signatures were somehow deliberately displayed for the world to see. This statement makes the group quite powerful and adamant about making themselves a household name in the hacking industry.
Nevertheless, Capcom said in a statement, claiming that there is no user information or client data compromised.
They have expressed their regret for any inconvenience that the incident may have caused to their stakeholders and, more importantly, their gaming customers. The company has also declined to provide any further information other than their safe gaming systems, and no other internal systems were compromised. Well, that is a challenging claim considering the amount the hackers are demanding.
