Hackers behind last month’s cyber attack on Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, have published a portion of the compromised data online.
That's according to a statement published by the company, in which it advised customers and business partners to “stay vigilant” as there's a possibility that their personal data may be misused.
The stolen data includes information embedded in identification documents such as passports, birth certificates, work permits, and driver’s licenses. In some cases, the cyber criminals managed to obtain social security numbers, medical certificates, injury reports, and bank account information.
Vestas stated that “not all employees and business partners of Vestas have been affected by the cyber security incident and the majority of the compromised personal data is not of a sensitive nature”.
This includes information embedded in CVs, such as names and contact details, emails, phone numbers, country of residence, education, and professional skills, as well as company documents including contracts and salary information.
Vestas said that it will notify the victims of the breach “if it is assessed that this is appropriate given the risk to such individuals”.
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IT Pro has reached out to the company for further information but hadn't received a response at the time of publication.
The attack, which took place on 19 November, forced Vestas to shut down its IT systems for two days “as a precaution”. The company has not named the hackers behind the attack, nor whether the cyber attack involved ransomware.
However, the news of data being published online suggests that that the company didn't comply with the hackers' ransom demands.
This is in contrast to a similar incident involving US natural gas provider Colonial Pipeline, which saw the company comply with the DarkSide hacking group’s demands and pay the $4.4 million (£3.1 million) ransom. CEO Joseph Blount said that he was aware that the decision was “highly controversial”, yet added that “it was the right thing to do for the country”.
“I didn't make it (the decision) lightly. I will admit that I wasn't comfortable seeing money go out the door to people like this,” he told the Wall Street Journal in May.
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