Ransomed. vc professes to approach about 6,000 records from the tech goliath
As of a September 25 report from Australian cybersecurity publication Network Security Interface, Sony, the creator of PlayStation, fell victim to a breach by Ransomed.VC, a newly emerging group of hackers that has only been active since September. However, the publication suggests that the group may have ties to previous dark web forums and communities. According to Network Security Interface, the hack allegedly exposed screenshots of Sony’s internal sign-in page, an internal PowerPoint presentation detailing test bench details, several Java files, and a document tree containing 6,000 files.
“We have successfully compromised all of Sony’s systems,” Ransomed.VC declared. “We won’t ransom them! We will sell the data. Because Sony doesn’t want to pay. Data IS FOR SALE. WE ARE SELLING IT.”
Among the 6,000 records purportedly held hostage by Ransomed.VC, a plethora of documentation exists, including obscure “form log records,” a collection of Java assets, and HTML data. Many of these files are reported to be in Japanese. Although Ransomed.VC has not disclosed a specific price for the data, the group has left contact details for Sony to reach out and indicated a “post date” of September 28, which could signify when Ransomed.VC intends to make the entirety of the data public.
Thereโs a new gang on the dark web that claims itโs breached all of Sony systems in a ransomware attack.
It appears that Ransomed.VC operates both as a ransomware administrator and a ransomware-as-a-service organization. This means that in addition to orchestrating large-scale hacks targeting major corporations, Ransomed.VC, reportedly based in Russia and Ukraine according to VGC, also collaborates with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data protection regulations. They allegedly use these regulations to intimidate victims into compliance, as noted by the Network Protection Interface.
Sony has not publicly commented on the breach or the potential impact of Ransomed.VC’s activities on the company. Kotaku reached out to Sony for an official statement.
This incident isn’t the first time Sony has faced hacking issues. In 2011, the company’s PlayStation Network suffered a significant breach that compromised nearly 77 million registered accounts and rendered online services completely inoperable. The aftermath was severe enough that Sony had to testify before Congress to explain the situation and later offered games and monetary compensation as restitution. While fewer than 6,000 records may not seem as catastrophic as the PSN hack, any breach poses a serious threat. Hopefully, Sony can swiftly address the situation and bolster its security measures.
