At the beginning of April, the software company Perbit fell victim to a hacker attack. Highly sensitive customer data such as wage and salary slips, the social security number, account data or private telephone numbers were stolen, as “Business Insider” reports. Hundreds of companies and associations, including the Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHK), are customers of Perbit.
The hackers tried to blackmail Perbit after the attack. A large sum of money was demanded in exchange for the data. After consultation with the police, however, Perbit did not respond. Both the State Criminal Police Office and the Cologne public prosecutor’s office as well as the Cologne-based central and contact point for cybercrime North Rhine-Westphalia (ZAC NRW) are investigating the case.
After a hacker attack: data end up on the dark web
Now the criminals have published a lot of stolen data on the dark web. Only a little later, phishing emails based on the leaked data were apparently in circulation. The employees of affected companies are currently being informed about the theft and warned of possible attempts at fraud.
How much user data was actually stolen is not yet known. The authorities do not want to comment on this for “tactical reasons”. Perbit itself is also only vague. “A significant number of our customers” were affected by the attack.