The aviation giant fell victim to a cyber attack. Boeing confirms. The traces lead to Russia.

As it writes a few days ago, the LockBit hacker group stated that it had a “huge amount” of sensitive information stolen from Boeing’s systems. The hackers demanded a ransom, but it is unclear whether the aviation giant agreed to pay it.

Boeing confirms ‘cyber incident’. Hackers allegedly stole data

Until now, it was unclear whether the hackers actually had the stolen information they claimed to have. Now, however, Boeing has confirmed in a statement provided to TechCrunch that a “cyber incident” occurred. The company said that “elements of the business related to parts and safety” were attacked, but the incident “does not affect flight safety.” It added that Boeing is investigating the incident, cooperating with regulators and law enforcement, and notifying customers and suppliers.

It was not disclosed whether sensitive data had already been recovered or whether the stolen information would be made publicly available. The LockBit group demanded that Boeing pay a ransom (an unknown amount). She declared that if she did not receive it, she would disclose “all available data”. Boeing was reportedly given less than 6 days to think about it. However, the hackers’ post disappeared from the Internet, which may suggest that the ransom was transferred. When asked about this issue by TechCrunch, Boeing declined to comment.

Last Saturday, research group VX-Underground posted on X that it had contacted the LockBit hackers, who said they “haven’t spoken to a Boeing representative yet.” The hackers did not want to reveal how much and what value of data they managed to steal. The leak may have occurred by infecting computers with malware that exploits a zero-day vulnerability (a vulnerability whose existence has not yet been disclosed) as part of a ransomware attack (blocking access to the hardware or system until a ransom is received), researchers write.

The LockBit group is believed to have links with Russia and the Evil Corp company, which the US imposed sanctions on in 2019. In June this year A 20-year-old Russian who was supposed to be a member of LockBit. It is believed that since the end of 2019, the group has carried out approximately 1.8 thousand ransomware attacks worldwide.