Gigabytes of sensitive data related to British military and intelligence sites have been exposed by the infamous LockBit ransomware group.
Zaun, a Wolverhampton-based manufacturer of fencing systems, has revealed it was hit by a cyber-attack carried out by LockBit on August 5-6.
“In an otherwise up-to-date network, the breach occurred through a rogue Windows 7 PC that was running software for one of our manufacturing machines. Our own cyber security prevented the server from being encrypted. The machine has been removed and the vulnerability closed. We have been able to continue work as normal with no interruptions to service,” the company said in a statement published on September 1, 2023.
At the time of the attack, Zaun believed its cybersecurity solutions thwarted any transfer of data.
“However, we can now confirm that during the attack LockBit managed to download some data, possibly limited to the vulnerable PC but with a risk that some data on the server was accessed. It is believed that this is 10 GB of data, potentially including some historic emails, orders, drawings and project files,” the statement continued.
LockBit claimed responsibility for this attack on August 13. The gang gave Zaun until August 29 to pay an undisclosed ransom – after which it published some data on their leak site.
Zaun Denied Claims of Sensitive Data Being Breached
Although Zaun said it does not believe that any classified documents were stored on the system or have been compromised, The Daily Mirror reported that the data released by LockBit included thousands of pages of data that could help criminals get into His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde) nuclear submarine base, the Porton Down chemical weapon lab and GCHQ’s communications complex in Bude, Cornwall.
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