Two banking and legal industry giants have been hacked by suspected ransomware perpetrators, according to reports.
Allen & Overy is one of the UK’s ‘Magic Circle’ law firms. It released a statement yesterday revealing a “data incident” affecting a “small number of storage servers.”
Although the company did not cite ransomware as the cause, a user on X (formerly Twitter) posted a screenshot appearing to show the company’s listing on the prolific ransomware group’s leak site-as -a-service (RaaS) LockBit.
According to this screenshotthe company has until November 28 to pay a ransom, failing which the group will disclose the data it claims to have exfiltrated.
Allen & Overy sought to downplay the seriousness of the incident.
“Investigations carried out to date have confirmed that data in our central systems, including our email and document management system, has not been affected. The company continues to operate normally with some disruptions resulting from the measures taken to contain the incident,” he said.
“Our technical response team, working with an independent cybersecurity advisor, took immediate action to isolate and contain the incident.”
The company added that it both assesses what data was taken and informs affected customers.
Read more about LockBit: Boeing investigates LockBit ransomware breach allegations
EasyDMARC CEO Gerasim Hovhannisyan cited the case of law firm Ince Group, which was placed into administration after a serious ransomware breach, as an illustration of the dangers of cyberattacks.
“Following the collapse of the Ince Group, this recent attack on another law firm illustrates the growing cyber threat facing legal institutions,” he added. “As organizations entrust such sensitive data, it is imperative that cybersecurity measures are treated as a top priority by those responsible. »
On a related note, reports suggest that the US arm of the banking giant, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), was also hit by ransomware yesterday.
Experts believe that LockBit is also behind this attack, although the company has not yet appeared on its leak site. It’s unclear whether the data was stolen, but the breach disrupted transactions on Thursday, according to Reuters.
“Faced with the increasing severity, sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks, often involving human error, businesses need to urgently rethink their approach to ransomware defense,” said Oz Alashe, founder and CEO of CybSafe.
“It’s not just about technology: a people-centric strategy is crucial. This means inspiring and measuring behavior change, going beyond basic security awareness and training to improve security posture.