Hackers publish over 4,000 files stolen from SEPA in ransomware attack
1.2GB of data was taken from the Scottish regulator's digital systems on Christmas Eve
Cyber criminals have published more than 4,000 files belonging to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
The regulator fell victim to a hack on Christmas Eve, which saw around 1.2GB of data stolen from its digital systems, including databases, contracts, and strategy documents.
The incident has been claimed by the Conti ransomware group, which is considered the successor of the notorious Ryuk strain that was for a third of all ransomware attacks in 2020.
SEPA refused to pay the ransom, with its chief executive Terry A’Hearn saying that the regulator “won’t use public finance to pay serious and organised criminals intent on disrupting public services and extorting public funds”.
“We have made our legal obligations and duty of care on the sensitive handling of data a high priority and, following Police Scotland advice, are confirming that data stolen has been illegally published online.”
A’Hearn added that SEPA is “working quickly with multi-agency partners”, including the Scottish Government, Police Scotland, and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), to “recover and analyse data then, as identifications are confirmed, contact and support affected organisations and individuals”.
Detective inspector Michael McCullagh of Police Scotland’s Cybercrime Investigations Unit said that the investigation remains “ongoing”.
RELATED RESOURCE
Ransomware protection with Veritas NetBackup Appliances
How to use Veritas NetBackup and NetBackup Appliances to protect against and recover from ransomware attacks
“Police Scotland are working closely with SEPA and our partners at Scottish Government and the wider UK law enforcement community to investigate and provide support in response to this incident. Enquiries remain at an early stage and continue to progress including deployment of specialist cybercrime resources to support this response,” he added.
The Christmas Eve attack saw the environmental regulator experience a “significant systems outage” which affected its contact centre, phone lines, and email.
“Sadly we’re not the first and won’t be the last national organisation targeted by likely international crime groups. We’ve said that whilst for the time being we’ve lost access to most of our systems, including things as basic as our email system, what we haven’t lost is our twelve-hundred expert staff,” added A’Hearn.
SEPA’s regulated business and supply chain partners are able to access Police Scotland guidance and an enquiry form through a dedicated data loss support website, with a support line also available.
-
Ransomware cartels are fragmenting into volatile splinter groups, warns Met Police cyber chiefNews Commoditized "cyber crime bazaars" and AI data mining are forcing law enforcement to rewrite its playbook
-
New ransomware threat group, The Gentlemen, has become one of the most active ransomware operators, accounting for 10% of all attacksNews NTT researchers warn that the RaaS group is leveraging SystemBC malware to establish covert tunnelling, evade detection, and support rapid lateral movement across enterprise environments
-
Instructure chose to a pay ransom following the Canvas cyber attack – research shows more than half of security leaders would follow suitAnalysis Opting to pay ransoms creates huge risks for enterprises – you’re relying on the word of criminals
-
Ransomware negotiator sentenced for role in major cyber crime groupNews Deniss Zolotarjovs was a key player in a group associated with Conti
-
Threat actors ditch ‘spray and pray’ attacks in shift to targeted exploitationNews A dip in ransomware volumes points to a more targeted approach focused on vulnerability exploitation
-
Security leaders overconfident about ransomware recovery
News Few manage to recover all their data, and many experience business disruption
-
German authorities want your help finding the hackers behind GandCrab and REvilNews Daniil Maksimovich Shchukin and Anatoly Sergeevitsch Kravchuk are believed to have made millions from ransomware as a service schemes
-
The rise of teen hackers ‘makes for a good headline’, but cyber crime activities peak later in life
News With family responsibilities and mortgages to pay, it's not teenagers dishing out malware or carrying out cyber extortion
