Via both the New York Times and Bleeping Computer, chemical distributor Brenntag was hit by the ransomware group that hit Colonial Pipeline:
Chemical distribution company Brenntag paid a $4.4 million ransom in Bitcoin to the DarkSide ransomware gang to receive a decryptor for encrypted files and prevent the threat actors from publicly leaking stolen data.
Brenntag is a world-leading chemical distribution company headquartered in Germany but with over 17,000 employees worldwide at over 670 sites.
Best wishes to Brenntag, and to all of us.
They actually make high purity sulfuric acid for the electronic industry.
ReplyDeleteA distributor company would be especially vulnerable to a ransomware hacker threatening to leak confidential information. They've got internal files on customers with formulation details shared under NDA's, and notes from customer visits that might include stuff like "Purchasing Manager X is a jerk" or "Chemist Y is an idiot."
ReplyDeleteI've shared plenty of confidential material with distributor reps under NDA's. It's scary that this information is vulnerable even if the other company doesn't deliberately do anything unethical with it.