Compal Electronics, the second largest manufacturer of laptops (and related devices), based in Taiwan, fell victim to a ransomware (?) attack over the weekend.
According to the ransom note left by the hackers , the gang behind the DoppelPaymer ransomware is responsible for the breach.
Local media reported that the incident was discovered on Sunday morning and is believed to have affected around 30% of Compal's systems.
Employees received a message from Compal's IT staff, asking them to check the status of their workstations and create backups of all their important files , which were not affected by the ransomware attack.
Since Sunday, Compal's IT staff has been reinstalling encrypted workstations.
Compal executive confirms hack (denies ransomware)
Despite local media reports, Compal's deputy director, Qingxiong Lu, told reporters from United News Network that the company did indeed suffer a security breach, but denied that the recent service outage was caused by ransomware.
"is not being blackmailed by hackers Compal," a Compal spokesperson told reporters.
Furthermore, Qingxiong said that the incident only affected the company's internal office network and that Compal's production lines, which manufacture laptops for other companies, have not been affected.
Qingxiong estimates that the company will return to normal very soon, once all system restoration procedures are completed.
Compal is the second largest laptop manufacturer in the world after Quanta Computer, another Taiwanese company. The company manufactures some of the biggest brands in the computer sector. For example, in the past, Compal has produced laptops for companies such as Apple, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, HP and Fujitsu. The company also manufactures monitors, tablets, smartwatches, smart TVs and other computer equipment.
If it is indeed true that the company was hit by the DoppelPaymer ransomware (which is very likely, since a screenshot of the ransom note was released), then Compal would be the third major Taiwanese company to fall victim to a ransomware attack this year. State-owned energy company CPC Corp. was hit by the ColdLocker ransomware in May, while the Taiwan-based factory of American smartwatch maker Garmin fell victim to the WastedLocker ransomware in July.
Source: ZDNet
