Hackers threaten to leak sensitive data stolen from Gigabyte servers
The company says that the incident affected only some of its internal servers, which were taken down and isolated
Taiwan-based computer hardware firm Gigabyte has reportedly fallen victim to a cyber attack from ransomware group RansomEXX.
In a ransom note posted a dark web page, the group claimed that they were able to steal 112GB of data from an internal Gigabyte network as well as the American Megatrends Git Repository.
"We have downloaded 112 GB (120,971,743,713 bytes) of your files and we are ready to PUBLISH it," the hackers said in their ransom note, according to Bleeping Computer.
"Many of them are under NDA (Intel, AMD, American Megatrends)," it added.
"Leak sources: newautobom.gigabyte.intra, git.ami.com.tw and some others."
The page is reportedly hosted on a dark web portal used by RansomExx operatives to post their extortion demands and leak data from companies that refuse to pay.
Along with their ransom note, the hackers also posted the screenshots of documents from Intel, AMD and American Megatrends that are under a non-disclosure agreement.
Megatrends creates firmware for some computer manufacturers and Chromebook makers.
The cyber attack reportedly occurred on the night of 3 August, forcing the company to shut down some of its system in Taiwan. It affected multiple websites of the company, including its support site. Some customers complained that they were unable to access support documents or receive updated information about RMAs.
In a statement to Chinese news site United Daily News, Gigabyte confirmed that some of its internal servers were affected as a result of the attack.
The company is currently investigating how the attackers were able to breach its systems and steal data from its systems. Local law enforcement has also been notified about the incident.
According to media reports, RansomEXX group has become more active in recent months, hitting Ecuador's state-run Corporación Nacional de Telecomunicación (CNT) and Italy's Lazio region.
The gang has also victimised some other high-profile organisations in the past one year, including the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Konica Minolta, IPG Photonics, Tyler Technologies and Brazil's government networks.
Last month, another cyber gang, which stole a wealth of data from game publishing giant Electronic Arts (EA), also dumped their haul on an underground forum, after failing to extort the firm.
The gaming firm declared the data breach on 10th June, and a spokesperson said that only a "limited amount" of data was stolen.
Hackers, however, claimed that they had stolen 780GB of data, which they were willing to sell for $28 million.
Earlier this year, cyber criminals behind the ransomware attack on the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) also posted online about 4,000 stolen files, after SEPA declined to pay ransom to the group.