Status: 11/23/2022 12:23 p.m
At the end of August, the automotive supplier Continental was attacked by hackers. Now even the US federal police, the FBI, is getting involved in the investigation.
After the cyber attack on the automotive supplier Continental, the US Federal Police FBI is also dealing with the data theft. German security authorities had informed the FBI about the attack and were in contact with US investigators, the “Handelsblatt” reported. The financial newspaper referred to people familiar with the matter. When asked by the newspaper, the DAX group did not want to comment on the role of the FBI. The US federal police also declined to comment.
At the end of August, the Hanover-based group was targeted by hackers. At that time it was said that the attack had been repelled – business activities were not affected and no third-party systems were affected. The group launched an internal investigation, which is still ongoing.
Third-party data is also affected
At the beginning of November, the company had to admit extensive data losses. During the investigations with the help of external experts, it was discovered that the hackers from the “Lockbit 3.0” ransomware group had succeeded in stealing part of the data – a total of 40 terabytes. These should also be files related to important customers such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes.
As the “Handelsblatt” further reports, the FBI has been investigating Lockbit since March 2020. According to the US federal police, the hackers have so far blackmailed more than 1,000 victims, taking at least a double-digit million sum. Experts suspect the hackers in Russia.