Another large company hit by ransomware attack

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Accent (ACN)The encrypted files will be posted by the group to the dark web on Wednesday unless the company pays the ransom, LockBit claimed, according to screenshots of the website reviewed by CNN Business and Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm.

Accenture spokesperson Stacey Jones confirmed cybersecurity incident to CNN Business wednesday, but did not explicitly acknowledge a ransomware attack.

“Through our security controls and protocols, we have identified irregular activity in one of our environments,” Jones said in a statement. “We got the problem under control immediately and isolated the affected servers. We have fully restored our affected systems from backup. There has been no impact on Accenture’s operations or on our customers’ systems.

Software company's decryption key unveiled too late for many victims of devastating ransomware attack

The LockBit ransomware gang first emerged in September 2019, according to an Emsisoft profile of the group. LockBit, like many other ransomware gangs, leases its malware to criminal third party affiliates who then receive a portion of the ransoms in exchange for planting the code on the victims’ networks.

The following year, Interpol warned of a spike in attacks using LockBit malware. The main victims of the group are Merseyrail, a British rail network, and Press Trust of India, an Indian news organization, according to Emsisoft.

Ransomware has become a critical threat to national and economic security, the U.S. government said, amid a spate of attacks on corporate and infrastructure targets. Earlier this year, an attack by the DarkSide group forced Colonial Pipeline to shut down its fuel distribution operations, causing gasoline shortages across the country. The criminal gang REvil has attacked JBS Foods, one of the world’s largest meat suppliers. And a subsequent attack by the same group – targeting computer software vendor Kaseya – ended up infecting around 1,500 small businesses around the world.

Emsisoft Threat Analyst Brett Callow said it was possible that former affiliates of the REvil ransomware gang may have aligned with LockBit after REvil suddenly disappeared following Kaseya’s attack.

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