Tokyo, May 14 (Bureau) Hackers from the DarkSide group, which allegedly caused a large-scale disruption in the operation of the Colonial Pipeline company in the United States, announced that they stole data from the French branch of the Japanese corporation Toshiba, the NHK broadcaster reported on Friday, citing cybersecurity company Mitsui Bussan Secure Directions. According to the NHK, the group claims it stole over 740 gigabytes of data from Toshiba, including information on management, new businesses and personal data.
On May 7, the Colonial Pipeline, one of the United States’ largest fuel providers, halted its operation due to a cyberattack initiated by DarkSide. According to the Bloomberg report, the company paid the hackers $5 million in untraceable cryptocurrency to decrypt their hacked data and resume supply. The hack caused fuel shortages in the East Coast and was dubbed as the “most substantial” in the nation’s history. The FBI confirmed that DarkSide ransomware was responsible for the attack on the Colonial Pipeline.
On Thursday, the ransomware group listed four other companies from which it stole sensitive data, posting the details and previews on its website. The listed companies included Italian company Valvitalia, French helicopter service provider Heli-Union, US building materials firm Irving Materials and US company All American Asphalt. The DarkSide group, believed to be based in Russia, released a statement stressing that it did not have any geopolitical motives and were not employed by any government. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov firmly maintained that Russia had nothing to do with the attacks.