Canon employee data exposed in ransomware attack
The company has admitted that hackers accessed sensitive information about current and former employees


The US subsidiary of Canon has admitted that a ransomware attack on its infrastructure left corporate data, including employee information, exposed.
In a statement, Canon USA said that it is in contact with law enforcement agencies and is using a cyber security company to help investigate the issue.
It said there was “unauthorized activity on our network between July 20, 2020 and August 6, 2020. During that time, there was unauthorized access to files on our file servers”.
In August, the Maze ransomware group has posted on its darknet website over 2.5GB of data it claimed was from Canon USA.
Canon added that after a careful review of file service earlier this month, it determined that there were files that contained information about current and former employees from 2005 to 2020, along with their beneficiaries and dependents.
“The information in the files included the individuals' names and one or more of the following data elements: Social Security number, driver's license number or government-issued identification number, financial account number provided to Canon for direct deposit, electronic signature, and date of birth,” the company said in a statement.
It added that, as a precaution, employees will receive a complimentary membership to Experian's credit monitoring service.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
Earlier this month, the gang behind the Maze ransomware said it would be shutting down its operations for good. The notorious group, first discovered in May 2019, built a solid reputation in a short space of time to encrypt all the files it can on infected systems before demanding a ransom to return the documents.
Since Maze “retiring”, other gangs, such as Egregor, have taken up the mantle to strike at other firms.
Rene Millman is a freelance writer and broadcaster who covers cybersecurity, AI, IoT, and the cloud. He also works as a contributing analyst at GigaOm and has previously worked as an analyst for Gartner covering the infrastructure market. He has made numerous television appearances to give his views and expertise on technology trends and companies that affect and shape our lives. You can follow Rene Millman on Twitter.
-
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy doubles down on the company's AI focus
News Amazon CEO Andy Jassy thinks companies need to "lean into" AI and embrace the technology despite concerns over job losses.
-
A major ransomware hosting provider just got hit US with sanctions
News Aeza Group's services were being used for ransomware, infostealers, and disinformation
-
Swiss government data published following supply chain attack – here’s what we know about the culprits
News Radix, a non-profit organization in the health promotion sector, supplies a number of federal offices, whose data has apparently been accessed.
-
Ransomware victims are getting better at haggling with hackers
News While nearly half of companies paid a ransom to get their data back last year, victims are taking an increasingly hard line with hackers to strike fair deals.
-
LockBit data dump reveals a treasure trove of intel on the notorious hacker group
News An analysis of May's SQL database dump shows how much LockBit was really making
-
‘I take pleasure in thinking I can rid society of at least some of them’: A cyber vigilante is dumping information on notorious ransomware criminals – and security experts say police will be keeping close tabs
News An anonymous whistleblower has released large amounts of data allegedly linked to the ransomware gangs
-
It's been a bad week for ransomware operators
News A host of ransomware strains have been neutralized, servers seized, and key players indicted
-
Everything we know about the Peter Green Chilled cyber attack
News A ransomware attack on the chilled food distributor highlights the supply chain risks within the retail sector
-
Scattered Spider: Who are the alleged hackers behind the M&S cyber attack?
News The Scattered Spider group has been highly active in recent years
-
Ransomware attacks are rising — but quiet payouts could mean there's more than actually reported
News Ransomware attacks continue to climb, but they may be even higher than official figures show as companies choose to quietly pay to make such incidents go away.