Boeingdata published by Lockbit hackers after demand for ransom

Published

5 months ago

November 14, 2023

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Internal data from Boeing, one of the world’s largest defense and space contractors, was published online on Friday by Lockbit, a cybercrime gang which extorts its victims by stealing and releasing data unless a ransom is paid.

The hackers in October said they had obtained “a tremendous amount” of sensitive data from the aerospace giant and would dump it online if Boeing didn’t pay a ransom by Nov. 2.

According to a post on Lockbit’s website, the data fromBoeingwas published in the early hours of Friday morning.

The files, which Reuters has not independently verified, mostly date to late October.

In a statement, Boeing confirmed that “elements” of the company’s parts and distribution business had experienced a cybersecurity incident.

We are aware that, in connection with this incident, a criminal ransomware actor has released information it alleges to have taken from our systems,” Boeing said. “We continue to investigate the incident and will remain in contact with law enforcement, regulatory authorities, and potentially impacted parties, as appropriate.”

The company said it “remains confident” the event does not pose a threat to aircraft or flight safety, but declined to comment on whether defense or other sensitive data had been obtained by Lockbit.

Lockbit ransomware, first seen on Russian-language-based cybercrime forums in January 2020, has been detected all over the world, with organizations in the United States, India and Brazil among common targets, cybersecurity firm Trend Micro said last year.

It called the group “one of the most professional organized criminal gangs in the criminal underground.”

The group has hit 1,700 US organizations, according to the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

On Thursday, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s (ICBC) US arm was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted trades in the US Treasury market.

Several ransomware experts and analysts said Lockbit was believed to be behind the hack, although the gang’s dark web page, where it typically posts names of its victims, did not mention ICBC.

Business

Hunt calls Dorneywood summit to boost flagging UK stock market

Published

2 hours ago

April 27, 2024

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Hunt calls Dorneywood summit to boost flagging UK stock market

Jeremy Hunt is convening a summit aimed at enticing more companies to London’s stock market amid an accelerating exodus of businesses being picked off by overseas and financial predators.

Sky News has learnt that the Treasury has invited the bosses of some of Britain’s most prominent private companies to attend a meeting next month at Dorneywood, the chancellor’s weekend country residence.

Sources said the day-long event on 16 May would target entrepreneurs behind potential flotation candidates from the fintech and biotech sectors.

Bim Afolami, the City minister, and Lord Petitgas, the prime minister’s chief business adviser, will also be present, alongside key government officials and executives from the London Stock Exchange, the sources added.

In the invitation, a copy of which has been seen by Sky News, the Treasury said attendees and the chancellor would “discuss the UK’s capital markets and how they can support innovative, high-growth companies such as yours to achieve your growth ambitions”.

“The UK’s capital markets play a key role in our economy: driving growth, creating jobs and facilitating investment.

“The government is committed to ensuring that the UK remains the best place for companies to grow, and is already taking forward an ambitious programme of reforms to improve the competitiveness of the UK.”

Dozens of companies, including the likes of digital banks Monzo and Starling Bank, are understood to have been on the invitation list.

The Dorneywood summit has been planned for several months, according to officials, who denied that it was being staged in response to a glut of companies which have announced in recent weeks that they are in receipt of takeover bids or that they would unilaterally delist from the London market.

Approaches this week for Anglo American, the £30bn mining giant, and Darktrace, the cybersecurity company, have exacerbated the impression of a growing ‘de-equitisation’ of the UK stock market.

Although neither of those deals have yet to be formally agreed, a string of others have, including International Paper’s bid for DS Smith, the FTSE-100 paper and packaging group, which was revealed by Sky News last month.

Other companies which have agreed deals with suitors include Virgin Money, which is set to be bought by Nationwide in a £3bn deal.

Yet more, such as the Royal Mail parent International Distributions Services and the music royalties company Hipgnosis Songs Fund, are in receipt of serious takeover approaches.

While frenetic periods of mergers and acquisitions are far from uncommon, bankers and investors point to a dearth of attractive new opportunities to deploy capital because the flow of initial public offerings has been so slow.

Many of the companies that London would have hoped to attract, including the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and the chip designer ARM Holdings, opted to list in Amsterdam and New York respectively.

The perception of London’s decline is being heightened by the decisions of boards to move their existing UK listings to other international exchanges, with TUI Travel and Flutter Entertainment, the gambling group behind Paddy Power, among those to relegate their London market presence.

Bosses of companies as large as Shell, the oil behemoth, have also begun to acknowledge publicly their frustration at what they perceive to be a gulf between their intrinsic valuation and that which the public markets are attaching to them.

Earlier this month, the boss of E-Therapeutics, a fast-growing but loss-making biotech company, described the London stock market as “broken and closed” as he announced plans to delist it and pursue a New York flotation at a future date.

This weekend, one government insider said the Dorneywood meeting would be important because it would highlight to fast-growing British companies that listing overseas “is not all milk and honey”.

A number of the UK-based businesses – such as Arrival, Cazoo and Benevolent AI – which went public in Europe and the US during the now-faded boom for special purpose acquisition companies – have seen their valuations crash, with some subsequently cancelling their listings.

“We need to explain to companies why London’s capital markets are the right place for these businesses to go public,” said one government source.

A Treasury spokesperson said: “The chancellor is meeting with a number of firms to hear their reflections on UK markets and what more the government and regulators can do to support their growth.”

Politics

Taiwan prosecutors target 20-year sentences for ACE exchange suspects

Published

2 hours ago

April 27, 2024

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Taiwan prosecutors target 20-year sentences for ACE exchange suspects

According to the prosecutors, the increased scale of the losses justifies the sentence recommendation.

Politics

Humza Yousaf: Scotland’s first minister claims Holyrood election could be called – as vote of no confidence looms

Published

2 hours ago

April 27, 2024

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Humza Yousaf: Scotland's first minister claims Holyrood election could be called - as vote of no confidence looms

Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf claims a Holyrood election could be called as he refuses to say if he will resign if he loses a looming vote of no confidence.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News in Fife on Saturday, the SNP leader said it was “really disappointing” to learn the Greens will refuse to enter further talks to change their minds on voting against him in a ballot which could prove fatal for his leadership.

Mr Yousaf has today written to all the opposition parties, including Alex Salmond’s Alba party, at Holyrood urging them to rethink their plot to oust him.

The SNP leader said on Saturday that he was leaving it to his rivals to determine his fate.

A Green Party source said the only letter they will accept from the first minister is his resignation.

Mr Yousaf told Sky News: “Well let me say again, that would be really disappointing if that is the Greens’ position.

“As I say, I’ve reached out to them, they are saying publicly that they’re going to support a Conservative motion against independence, first minister and independence government.

“That would be, I think, a poor choice to make.”

Asked if there might be a Scottish election if he doesn’t win the vote, Mr Yousaf replied: “Can’t rule it out.”

The casting vote now looks likely to be Alba MSP Ash Regan who sensationally defected from the SNP in the wake of her defeat in the race to replace Nicola Sturgeon last year.

Sky News understands Alba is holding an emergency meeting this weekend to determine how it will cast the key vote.

When asked how SNP members would feel about being “propped up” by Mr Salmond, Mr Yousaf said: “Let me make it really, really clear, I’ll be sending out to anybody I meet with, whoever comes round that table, that these are the priorities of the SNP minority government.

“This is what we’ll be pursuing, this is what we’ll be pushing. It’ll then be up to be it Ash Regan, be it Lorna Slater, be it Patrick Harvie or any of them, to decide what button they push when it comes to the vote of no confidence.”