Hacking group claims mass data theft from nearly 50 companies

A hacking group called Cl0p has alleged that it has stolen substantial amounts of data from nearly 50 companies globally, including prominent names like Philips, Shell, Fiserv, and GE. This claim was published on the group's website. Shell confirmed the possibility of a data theft incident and is currently collaborating with its security teams and experts to thoroughly investigate the situation.

Philips disclosed that it had been targeted by Cl0p, but stated that the incident involves an attempted cybersecurity compromise of an internal server and does not affect customer environments. Fiserv acknowledged the threat actor's claims but found no evidence of customer, banking, transaction, or personal data being compromised.

GE also confirmed awareness of the claim and has initiated its cyber response protocols to assess the potential issue. The exact methods by which the data was stolen remain unknown, and Reuters was unable to independently verify the claims regarding the stolen data and its quantity. The hackers did not respond to requests for comment.

Earlier this week, Ransom-ISAC, a group specializing in industry information sharing, issued a notice warning that Cl0p was exploiting vulnerabilities in PTC Windchill and FlexPLM, software tools utilized for engineering and manufacturing processes. PTC, a Boston-based company, has released multiple security notices urging customers to apply a patch for a vulnerability and shared details about an unnamed attacker targeting its products.

Brandon Parsons, the threat intelligence manager at Ascent Solutions and the author of the Ransom-ISAC advisory, explained that the group targets specific zero-day vulnerabilities, which are previously unknown bugs that software vendors have not yet patched, targeting various companies instead of focusing on specific organizations.