Name: Ransomware hackers steal plans for upcoming Apple products
Brand: theguardian.com
SKU: theguardian-com-1856
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Ransomware hackers steal plans for upcoming Apple products

preview

This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldGroup behind REvil ransomware claims stolen files include plans for two laptops and a new Apple Watch Last modified on Sat 1 May 2021 16.05 EDTApple is facing a ransomware demand after a group of cybercriminals stole confidential plans for the company’s upcoming products from a supplier.The “Sodin” group, which makes and runs a piece of called REvil, says it stole the plans from Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese company that assembles a number of Apple laptops.Like normal ransomware, REvil encrypts victims’ files and demands payment to receive the encryption key and recover the data. But Sodin has gone one step further, attempting to steal the files themselves and extort payment from those who have backups by threatening to publish confidential data.According to a statement posted on the criminals’ dark web site – which they call the “Happy Blog” – Quanta refused to pay the ransom, leading the hackers to begin threatening the company’s customers.“In order not to wait for the upcoming Apple presentations, today we, the REvil group, will provide data on the upcoming releases of the company so beloved by many,” the blog says. “Tim Cook can say thank you Quanta. From our side, a lot of time has been devoted to solving this problem.”The hackers claim that among the stolen documents are plans for a pair of Apple laptops, a new Apple Watch and a new Lenovo ThinkPad. To back up their assertions, they have posted a set of blueprints for some products, including schematics for the new iMacs that the company .The ransomware demand was initially posted just hours before the company’s launch event, and the hackers say they will release more documents every day, adding: “We recommend that Apple buy back the available data by 1 May.” A similar extortion attempt from the same group, aimed at Acer, demanded $50m in exchange for deleting the files.Already, internet users have begun to pore over the details of the leaks, with the current models on sale: a new version of the MacBook Pro is shown without the company’s controversial “Touch Bar”, for instance, and a potential return of HDMI ports, SD card readers and MagSafe connectivity to the machine.Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldGroup behind REvil ransomware claims stolen files include plans for two laptops and a new Apple Watch Last modified on Sat 1 May 2021 16.05 EDTApple is facing a ransomware demand after a group of cybercriminals stole confidential plans for the company’s upcoming products from a supplier.The “Sodin” group, which makes and runs a piece of called REvil, says it stole the plans from Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese company that assembles a number of Apple laptops.Like normal ransomware, REvil encrypts victims’ files and demands...

public

UK Technology Editor at the Guardian. Posting on Mastodon : @alexhern@tech.intersects.art Email me: alex.hern@guardian.co.uk

Alex Hern

TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and Guardian Unlimited, is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers The Guardian and The Observer, as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service.

theguardian.com

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

Ransomware hackers steal plans for upcoming Apple products

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS