China's Lending Giant Paid Ransom To Russia-Linked Group After It Got Hacked Last Week

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China reportedly paid a ransom after getting hacked last week, disrupting the U.S. Treasury market.

What Happened: Last week, on Nov. 9, ICBC’s U.S. branch fell victim to a cyberattack, which left the broker-dealer owing a temporary $9 billion debt to BNY Mellon, surpassing its net capital by a considerable margin.

The extent of the cyberattack was so large that it caused a blackout in the firm’s corporate email systems, forcing employees to shift to Google Mail for communication.

See Also: Russian-Linked Cybercriminals Strike Boeing’s Services Division In High-Profile Attack

However, on Monday, a representative of LockBit, the infamous cybercriminal group responsible for the cyberattack on ICBC, stated that the lending giant had settled the situation by paying a ransom, reported Reuters, noting that they could not independently verify.

“They paid a ransom, deal closed,” the Lockbit representative told the report via Tox.

Why It’s Important: The Russia-linked hackers, just last week, made internal data from Boeing public and said that they had infiltrated the computer system of the Allen & Overy law firm.

It has also been reported that the notorious hacking group has been behind one in every six ransomware attacks on U.S. government offices, with the number of new victims increasing by 47% in the second half of last year.

Moreover, as per the U.S. Justice Department, LockBit has extorted about $100 million in ransom demands as of February this year. 

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