Instead of $ 240 million in ransom demand, 50 million in Bitcoin are now to be paid to the alleged blackmailers.
Electronics retailers Media Markt and Saturn fell victim to a massive ransomeware attack. It is said that stationary retail is primarily affected, especially in branches in Germany and the Netherlands. So there are currently system failures at the cash registers. The exchange of goods and the processing of financing are currently not possible. Customers should be prepared for limited operations. According to a spokesman for the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group, online retailing, on the other hand, is not affected by the cyber attack. An initial ransom demand of 240 million US dollars was reduced by the alleged attackers to 50 million, paid in Bitcoin.
The company has not yet provided any specific information on the perpetrators. The online portal BleepingComputer writet however, the attack by the ransomware group “Hive ” to. The alleged hackers are said to have gained access to the systems during the night from Sunday to Monday. According to unconfirmed sources, the malware infiltrated the internal systems a month ago and was only triggered on Sunday night. A request from BTC-ECHO to the group of companies remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
Black Friday sales remain questionable
It remains unclear to what extent the attack on Media Markt and Saturn could affect the Black Friday sale on November 26th. In view of the compulsory closure due to the nationwide lockdown, a failure of the discount campaign would be a severe financial blow for the group of companies. A spokesman said in a message that they are currently working flat out on a solution.
Ransomware attacks are all the rage
Ransomware attacks have been increasing since the beginning of the year. At the beginning of July, the hacker group “REvil ” with a cyber attack on the US IT company Kaseya worldwide for headlines. At that time, the attackers blocked access to the service provider program VSA, use the company for administrative tasks worldwide. As a result, Revil demanded a ransom of $ 70 million in Bitcoin.
A representative PwC survey also provides a clear picture. Every year, the auditing company surveys around 5,000 company representatives from all over the world on the subject of white-collar crime. According to 2020 data, almost half of respondents have experienced at least one digital attack on their company in the past two years. According to the survey, the cumulative damage amounts to 42 billion euros.