Coca Cola, a world-renowned beverage brand, has admitted today that some of its systems were hit by a cyberattack that could be of ransomware variant. However, the company that owns Sprite did not confirm the incident as a file-encrypting malware attack as its staff was still investigating the cyber incident.
Stormous Ransomware has meanwhile released a statement that it has stolen about 161GB of data from Coca-Cola and is intending to sell the data as its ransom demands were put on the back burner by the IT staff of Coke, the carbonated soft drink manufacturer.
Stormous is a hacking group that is taking advantage of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and is trying to make money through political agendas by supporting the Putin-led nation.
To date, the said ransomware group of hackers has cyber attacked the computer network of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the database of Epic Games stealing information related to over 33 million users to date.
Research launched by Check Point in Feb this year reveals Stormous relies more on scavenging operations by buying data stolen by other ransomware gangs like Conti.
This means the said group of cybercriminals makes its name by buying data from gangs offering Ransomware-as-a-service and then acts as if it has hacked the database of the victim and demands ransom ranging in the double digital figures of millions.
Note- Coke announced last month that it is withdrawing business from the Russian Federation because of its war with the Zelensky-led nation. And Stormous gang might have received orders from Kremlin to digitally hack Coke as retaliation for its announcement of trade withdrawal.
