Computer hackers stole confidential data from the group. The conversations of the chairman of the supervisory board would be affected.
It is a new kind of war that does not spare companies. Hackers acting on behalf of the Lockbit group have stolen astronomical amounts of data belonging to the German equipment manufacturer Continental, which in 2021 earned a turnover of 40 billion dollars. The German business daily Handelsblatt found that the data, which is a total of 55 million files, has now been put up for sale on the dark web, a kind of clandestine Internet accessible via specific software and which escapes all regulation. Amount of loot: 50 million dollars.
The maneuver has cause for concern for the German multinational. The economic newspaper reveals that the stolen files contain highly confidential information, particularly from the company’s boards of directors and supervisors. According Handelsblattthe theft would have affected even the messages and emails of the chairman of the supervisory board, Wolfgang Reitzle.
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Other strategic information is also part of the loot, concerning the finances, the strategy or the human resources of the group. Perhaps even more serious, the hackers stole data concerning Continental customers, including manufacturers Volkswagen, Mercedes, Porsche and BMW. With the risk of making public technological and industrial data that is still secret. For the time being, Continental did not wish to react to the revelations of Handelsblatt.
While hacker attacks are commonplace in today’s business world, this is the first time that such an important company has had to suffer such severe consequences. This episode highlights flaws in the cyber defense of multinationals like Continental. In France, the Thalès group was the victim of an attack by the same hackers from Lockbit, with however data leaks contained according to the company. Since war broke out on Europe’s borders, the cyber risk has never been higher, according to German authorities.
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