Accenture has become the victim of a ransomware invasion that reportedly affected 2,500 of the company’s computers as the perpetrators made off with extorted data – but the consulting assistance company conserves that the cyberattack had “no impact” on its operations.
Earlier this month, the LockBit ransomware union posted Accenture’s name on its website and threatened to leak data it alleges it stole from the corporation during its most recent attack. The gang also implied that it organized to carry out the cyberattack with the help of an insider within Accenture.
“These people are beyond privacy and safety. I hope that their services are better than what I saw as an insider,” a note on the LockBit website said. “If you’re interested in buying some databases, reach us.”
Security firm Cybele noted that the LockBit gang was requesting a ransom payment of US$50 million for about 6 TB of stolen data.
Accenture later verified that it had maintained a ransomware attack, but demanded that the attack had little effect on its business.
“Through our safety controls and protocols, we specified different activities in one of our climates. We immediately included the matter and separated the affected servers,” the company said in a statement to ZDNet.
“There was no impact on Accenture’s undertakings or our clients’ systems.”
Despite conceding that a cyberattack had happened, Accenture has not disclosed how the ransomware was organized to penetrate its systems, nor has it fully published the importance of the malware’s effects. But a Twitter post from cybercrime intelligence company Hudson Rock said that Accenture had 2,500 compromised computers, relating to both employees and partners, due to the attack.
Accenture also did not react to investigations as to whether an insider had been involved with the cyberattack, or when the ransomware attack happened. Some cybersecurity experts have disputed whether there was even an insider implicated, with one expert saying that every hacker is technically an “insider.”
News of the ransomware invasion comes after Accenture disseminated a new report, which found that for the first half of 2021, the quantity of cyber intrusion activity clambered to 125% compared to H1 2020.
