IT consulting firm Accenture confirms the recent data breaching of LockBit ransomware against their systems 

October 29, 2021
IT consulting Accenture data breach LockBit Ransomware

LockBit ransomware has successfully attacked another victim once again, following the confirmation of Accenture, a global consultancy and IT firm that the threat actors recently victimised. The data breach incident was revealed through the firm’s fourth-quarter financial report. 

The IT consulting firm and its clients have been experiencing cybersecurity attacks such as phishing, data breach, and malware attacks against its systems. They added that they had identified suspicious activity in one of their environments, such as breaching their propriety data published by a third-party actor. 

 

About 6TB worth of data has been acquired by the threat actors of the LockBit ransomware against the IT consulting firm. They demanded a ransom payment amounting to $50 million in exchange for the Accenture breached data.

 

LockBitformerly known as ‘ABCD’ ransomware, typically blocks an infected device’s user access to the computer system and breaches sensitive data. Threat actors will also demand a huge ransom payment from the victim for the stolen sensitive information. 

Despite Accenture’s confirmation about the recent attack, the IT consulting firm has not notified relevant authorities and legally filed any reports regarding the data breach. The firm has not publicly acknowledged it as well. They confirmed the incident to only one of the cybersecurity intelligence vendors, which means that the compromised data does not comprise any personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI). 

 

Client data not affected by the LockBit ransomware attack

The IT consulting firm has also strongly denied that the LockBit ransomware gang had stolen sensitive credentials of their clients and customers. Nonetheless, based on security researchers, the breached information involves two airline companies, Bangkok Airways and Ethiopian, that utilise Accenture software. They have immediately isolated the affected servers as soon as the suspicious activity was detected. 

According to a spokesperson, the clients of Accenture have already been fully informed of the incident’s relevant details. 

Accenture is one of the largest IT and consulting companies globally that is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. With over 600,000 employees throughout 120 countries, they provide services to several business industries, including technology, telecoms, banks, energy, and government, among others. 

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