MBDA, one of Europe's largest missile manufacturers, has responded to rumors of a cyberattack on its infrastructure, saying that claims of a breach of its systems are false.
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A statement from the company explains that it was the target of a criminal group that spread false news about an invasion of its information systems in an attempt to blackmail the organization into paying a ransom.
The hackers had obtained MBDA data from an external drive used by the company's Italian division and demanded a ransom to prevent them from leaking or selling the files.
“The origin of the data has already been verified, having been taken from an external hard drive. It has been confirmed that no hack has occurred on the company ’s networks ,” says MBDA.
"So far, the company's internal verification procedures indicate that the data made available online is neither classified nor sensitive."
The company provides no explanation as to how the hackers got to MBDA Italy's external hard drive.
MBDA also added that they will not succumb to blackmail and will not pay the ransom to the criminals. Instead, they will cooperate with law enforcement authorities in Italy and take all legal action against the perpetrators.
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The hacking group's claims
On July 30, 2022, a hacking group called "Andrastea" posted a claim on a popular hacking forum about breaching MBDA by exploiting critical network vulnerabilities
The hackers claimed to have downloaded approximately 60GB of data as a result of the breach, including information about MBDA employees, numerous classified military projects, contracts, agreements, and more.
Andrastea shared samples of the stolen data as proof that the data they have is real.
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MBDA is a major missile systems developer that currently sells 45 types of missiles to 90 customers. The company has annual revenues of €4.2 billion, with a physical presence in France, Germany, Italy, the UK, the US and India and 13,000 employees.
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
