A large Italian company Azimut, specializing in investment asset management, has recently fallen victim to cyber attacks. Fortunately, the attacks did not compromise the confidential data of its customers. However, the perpetrators are now making demands on the company.
According to the Israeli startup DarkFeed, which monitors hacker attacks, the hackers responsible for the Azimut attacks are known as Alphv or BlackCat. These hackers had previously stolen a significant amount of data from the State Italian Energy Company GSE in September.
In a statement, Azimut affirmed that “the attack did not affect the data or information that could allow access to the personal position of customers and financial consultants or to perform unauthorized operations.” However, the company did not deny the fact that data was stolen. Azimut emphasized that the stolen data holds no value for the attackers and that customers are not at risk.
Azimut representatives also received a note demanding a ransom. However, the company firmly stated its refusal to comply with the hackers, as it goes against the fundamental principles and values of the company.
Palo Alto Networks, a California-based company, conducted its own investigation and confirmed that the Alphv/BlackCat hackers were indeed responsible for the attack. By studying the information posted by the hackers on their leak website, researchers discovered that Azimut’s data amounted to over 500 GB.
Azimut, which manages assets totaling 85 billion euros, immediately reported the incident to law enforcement agencies. The company also implemented internal security procedures that successfully mitigated the impact of the criminal intervention.
Researchers and analysts have identified Alphv/BlackCat as the second most active extortion group employing double extortion tactics. The first place is still held by Lockbit.