A new ransomware gang is on the prowl in the wild and has claimed its first major victim by launching a cyber attack and demanding $4m as ransom. According to an office statement released by Taiwan-based Micro-Star International (MSI) Co LTD, a ransomware gang named ‘Money Message’ has encrypted its servers and is demanding a huge sum in exchange for the decryption key.
MSI’s statement suggests that the hackers gained fraudulent access to about 1.5TB of information, including source code, BIOS tools, and some R&D details.
The manufacturer of notebooks, PCs, and GPUs stated that its IT team is working 24×7 to recover the data from the incident from a business continuity plan and is urging users not to download any kind of BIOS and firmware updates from external web resources and instead depend on the official website for all needs.
On the other hand, Money Message has posted some screenshots of the stolen data on Telegram and various information-selling forums operating on the dark web and threatened to sell the data, including the source code, if the management of MSI does not react in its favor.
NOTE 1 – The company is renowned for its industrial computers and other PC peripherals that are used in car infotainment systems, drones, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and other commercial operations such as military submarines and flying fleets.
NOTE 2 – During the invasion of Russia on Ukraine in 2022, when almost all major companies like Microsoft and Apple Inc chose to withdraw their sales and operations from the Putin-led nation, MSI, contrarily disagreed to withdraw its business operations from the Russian market and claimed that it would stick to the international laws of trade and would keep its business functioning alive in the Russian Federation.
