Original Article Text

Click to Toggle View

Sony investigates cyberattack as hackers fight over who's responsible. Sony says that it is investigating allegations of a cyberattack this week as different hackers have stepped up to claim responsibility for the purported hack. While claims of attacking Sony's systems were initially made by an extortion group called RansomedVC, a different threat actor has touted themselves to be the attackers and refuted RansomedVC's claims. Thus far, over 3.14 GB of uncompressed data, allegedly belonging to Sony, has been dumped on hacker forums. Sony investigating as 3.14 GB of data leaked This week, a threat actor by the name of RansomedVC claimed it had hacked SONY.com and put its "data and access" up for sale. "We have successfully [compromised] all of Sony systems," read a note posted on RansomedVC's onion leak site. "We wont ransom them! we will sell the data. due to Sony not wanting to pay." BleepingComputer observed the sample data posted by RansomedVC was minuscule, about 2 MB—comprising a PowerPoint presentation, some Java source code files, Eclipse IDE screenshots, and other assets. RansomedVC claimed to BleepingComputer that it had breached Sony's networks and stolen 260 GB of data during the attack that they are attempting to sell for $2.5 million. Contrary to its name, RansomedVC is an extortion group, rather than a ransomware operation, as they told us they are still developing an encryptor. We reached out to Sony Corporation for confirmation about the attack. "We are currently investigating the situation, and we have no further comment at this time," a Sony Group Corporation spokesperson told BleepingComputer this morning. However, the matters have become murky, with another threat actor 'MajorNelson' also claiming responsibility for the attack, and refuting RansomedVC's claims. "You journalists believe the ransomware crew for lies. Far too gullible, you should be ashamed," the threat actor MajorNelson posted on BreachForums, criticizing recent news reports that have attributed the attack as real without confirmation and credited RansomedVC. "RansomedVCs are scammers who are just trying to scam you and chase influence. Enjoy the leak." Contrary to posting a small sample, MajorNelson has "leaked for free" a 2.4 GB compressed archive, which contains 3.14 GB of uncompressed data that it claims belongs to Sony. The threat actor states that the dump contains: "A lot of credentials for internal systems," and files related to: BleepingComptuer further observed the archive posted by MajorNelson had all of the files that were present in RansomedVC's small sample, but definitive attribution remains a challenge. While the data shared by the attackers does appear to belong to Sony, BleepingComputer was not able to independently verify the veracity of either threat actor's claims. Prior to this week's allegations, Sony's most prominent encounter with a cyber attack happened in 2014 when North Korean hackers breached Sony Pictures in an attempt to censure the screening of the film, The Interview.

Daily Brief Summary

CYBERCRIME // Sony Probing Potential Cyberattack as Multiple Hackers Claim Responsibility

Sony has started investigating allegations of a cyberattack as two different hacker groups claimed responsibility for the same attack.

The extortion group RansomedVC initially claimed to have successfully hacked Sony and extracted 260GB of its data, which they are attempting to sell for $2.5 million.

A different threat actor named 'MajorNelson', on the other hand, claims it was responsible for the attack and has outright denied RansomedVC's claims. MajorNelson has leaked a 2.4GB compressed archive, containing an array of credentials and data files that it alleges belong to Sony.

The shared data does seem to belong to Sony, although the actual authenticity of the claims by either group remains unverified.

The situation is complex as both the hacker groups are vying for 'credit' for the hack. Still, it's clear that Sony has experienced a significant data leak and is investigating these claims further.

This alleged cyberattack follows Sony's previous encounter with a major breach in 2014 where North Korean hackers targeted Sony Pictures.