Cybercrime gang publishes names and profiles of victims hit by global hack attack

After carrying out a mass hack, a cybercrime gang known as Clop has published the names and profiles of its victims.

A cybercrime gang known as Clop has published the names and profiles of a raft of victims hit by a global mass hack.

The hacking group, who are holding the stolen data for ransom, started posting the names of organisations, including banks and universities, on its darknet website in an attempt to pressure the victims into paying.

So far, 26 groups – including US federal bodies – have been added to the list.

Chris Morgan, senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at ReliaQuest, said: “Once Clop names companies to its data leak site, the group will start its rounds of negotiations with affected organisations, demanding ransom payments in order to avoid their data being breached.”

Mr Morgan added the hackers will hope that the victims make contact and set a deadline of how long they have before their data is made public.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is providing support to several federal agencies affected by the intrusions, but the impact is not expected to be significant.

The scale of this mass hack suggests that hundreds of organisations worldwide may have been affected, with approximately 50 confirmations either from the companies themselves or the hackers.

A leak site created by the hackers contains information about companies from the US, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada.

Oil giant Shell has already confirmed it is among the victims.

Clop often demands ransoms ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, but law enforcement agencies worldwide have urged victims not to pay.

The hack on MOVEit, a tool designed for secure file transfers, was first revealed on 31 May when Progress Software, a US company, announced hackers had breached its system.

Progress Software promptly alerted its customers and released a downloadable security update.

But the cybercrooks had already exploited their access to gain entry into the databases of potentially hundreds of other companies.

Zellis, a UK-based payroll services provider, was one of the affected MOVEit users, resulting in data breaches for eight UK organisations including the BBC, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Boots.

The stolen data includes home addresses, national insurance numbers, and, in some cases, bank details, but not all firms experienced the same level of data exposure.