A leading hacker group has demanded $50 million in ransom from Acer, a Taiwanese PC maker. Hackers obtained access to Acer’s network via misusing a Microsoft Exchange vulnerability. Moreover, the hacker group has provided Acer time until March 28 to pay the ransom. Otherwise, it will print the data it pretends to have obtained. As per recent reports, the actors have demanded one of the most significant demands so far of up to $50 million paid in the privacy cryptocurrency, Monero.
Headquartered in New Taipei City, Acer is among the world’s most prominent computer hardware and electronics manufacturers. According to the report from BleepingComputer, the giant had fallen prey to a ransomware attack. It states that the hackers have advertised on their data leak website the prosperous invasion of Acer’s servers by putting images of allegedly stolen files as proof. The attackers advocated that they had compromised and received bank communications, financial spreadsheets, bank balances, and more. However, Acer did not confirm whether it had been the sufferer of a ransomware attack.
REvil Demands Highest Ransom from Acer to Date
The report further contends that a group recognized as ‘REvil’ was behind the attack on Acer. The same group is liable for the last year’s ransomware attack on Travelex, a London-based foreign currency exchange. The report highlights that it was the highest observed ransom request to date. Additionally, hackers also provided a discount of 20% if the company made the payment by Wednesday. In recovery, attackers would furnish the company with a decryptor, a vulnerability report, and destroy the stolen files.
REvil’s $50 million demand is the enormous known ransom to date, with the preceding is the $30M ransom from the Dairy Farm cyberattack and the same hacking group. Meantime, reports have alleged that five distinctive hacking groups misuse vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s business email servers. However, Microsoft has already issued an emergency application for its Exchange Server product, the most widespread mail server globally. It states that all incoming and outgoing emails, calendar invitations, and virtually anything located within Outlook go through the Exchange server.
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