Fujitsu, a tech giant company, situated in Japan, has reported that a large size of their private data has been sold by an underground hacking group called Marketo throughout the dark web. The tech company stated that the risked data are mostly related to the clients and not their servers. Over 4GB of stolen data were acquired by Marketo, as they directly said and sells it on their leak website. As proof, they have shown data samples such as customer details, company data, reports and budget data, and essential documentation.
From Marketo group’s leak website, they have claimed to have 280 bids for Fujitsu customer data. However, it shows recently that there are about 70 bids for it, including one for this day.
A spokesperson from Fujitsu stated that they are updated with the issue, and the details regarding the breach remain unidentified.
They also added that since the problem is mainly related to their customers, they will not be expressing further comments and details. They also assure that this recent issue is not connected and is entirely unrelated to an event that happened last May this year called the Project WEB.
Some cybersecurity researchers noted that the Marketo group is free to control their own leak website and can manipulate it anytime to change the number of bids just so they can pressure potential buyers. However, other experts say that Marketo is a reputable group and that the data being shown on their site are authentic, including the proof package and the bid count.
Even though Marketo group operates similarly to other ransomware groups, it is identified that they are not precisely a ransomware threat actor. The group does its operations by threatening the victims of exposing their stolen data to the public if their required payment is not fulfilled. If the target company fails to respond to the threat, Marketo will post the stolen data on their site and sell it there – usually provided with an evidence package.
Recently, a report has been made about the group saying that Marketo was established last April this year. Their stolen information is usually advertised on Twitter from a user handle named @Mannus Gott. The group has been claiming to be an “informational marketplace” instead of a ransomware gang.
The group has gone as far as sending stolen data samples to the competitors of their victim company to taunt them into paying the ransom in taking their information back. Experts said that even though the group claims to not be a ransomware gang, their operations are similar to how ransomware attacks happen.
