Panasonic hit by another major cyberattack

Lock on Laptop Screen
(Image credit: Shutterstock.com) (Image credit: Future)

Panasonic has confirmed part of its business was hit with what it describes as a “targeted” cyber incident, in which the attackers made away with a hoard of sensitive data from its endpoints.

The company revealed that its Canadian business suffered an attack at the hands of Conti, a known ransomware threat actor which has successfully breached the likes of Shutterfly or Kenosha in the past.

In a statement, Panasonic said the attack affected “some of its systems, processes and networks”.

TechRadar needs you!

We're looking at how our readers use VPNs with different devices so we can improve our content and offer better advice. This survey shouldn't take more than 60 seconds of your time. Thank you for taking part.

>> Click here to start the survey in a new window <<

Conti announces the breach

“We took immediate action to address the issue with assistance from cybersecurity experts and our service providers,” Panasonic spokesperson Airi Minobe was cited saying. 

“This included identifying the scope of impact, containing the malware, cleaning and restoring servers, rebuilding applications and communicating rapidly with affected customers and relevant authorities.”

Conti already announced the breach on its leak page, saying it managed to obtain 2.8 gigabytes of data from the company’s human resources and accounting departments. 

Panasonic Canada did not want to discuss the nature of the data that was taken, but did confirm the incident.

“Since confirming this attack, we have worked diligently to restore operations and understand the impact to customers, employees and other stakeholders,” Minobe added. “Our top priority is continuing to work closely with affected parties to fully mitigate any impacts from this incident.”

It’s unclear whether the group — which in February had its own internal chats leaked after declaring its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — made a ransom demand.

This is the second major cyberattack against Panasonic in less than six months, following an incident in December 2021 where Panasonic India was struck down, allowing the attackers to steal four gigs of financial information and email addresses, and in a separate attack in November 2021 when “some data” on a file server was taken after an incident the company described as “illegal access by a third party”. 

Via: TechCrunch

TOPICS

Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.