LockBit stole over 40.000 gigabytes of data in its ransomware attack on Continental. Also included: confidential documents from VW, BMW, Mercedes. Now LockBit is lowering the price for the data from $50 million to $40 million.
Continental will probably not calm down anytime soon. After the data was stolen by the ransomware group LockBit, more and more information is coming to the public. At first it seems that Continental has negotiated the buyback of the data. But then again not anymore. After some parts of the data and a file list were published, it became clear that, according to various media, there was also confidential content from VW, BMW and Mercedes.
No public Continental statement
🔎 LockBit has reduced the price of Continental data from 50 to 40 million (Image: B2B-CS).
Even if Continental has still not issued a statement on the attack and data theft, it is certain that the 40 terabytes are in the hands of LockBit. Now, LockBit has lowered the asking price from $50 million to $40 million. So far, however, there are no signs that Continental is willing to pay, which many experts believe is the right step.
Are Many Companies Denying LockBit the Ransom?
Many attacked companies are listed on the LockBit leak page. Current ransom payment deadlines are marked in red. If an ultimatum has expired and it has not been paid, LockBit will color the entry for the published data green. Information on 2022 attacked companies can currently be found on the leak page from July to December 364. Of these, 15 are still colored red. Almost 350 companies have refused to pay - Bravo!
🔎 The list at LockBit shows over 350 attacked companies - the picture is not intended to provide any details (Image: B2B-CS).
How many companies pay to LockBit?
Of course, only LockBit knows the exact number of how many companies pay LockBit and will hardly reveal the number. But you can make a thesis based on a few existing numbers: the company Malwarebytes publishes a monthly list of the most popular ransomware groups – including LockBit. Based on these numbers, Malwarebytes reported 335 known ransomware attacks by LockBit between July and October. LockBit's leak page has 208 entries for unpaid ransoms at this time. According to this very daring estimate, around 128 victims would have paid a ransom. So a little more than 38 percent of the victims.
How much money LockBit really makes can only be estimated. The extortion amounts range from a few thousand dollars to a few million dollars, such as Continental's initial 50 million. At least the group does not have the high sum of the non-payers available for further attacks. However, it is to be feared that a lot of data has found other buyers and that money has been earned for further attacks. who something If you want to know the technical background of the LockBit ransomware, you can get information from Kaspersky.
Some more background information about the course of the attack on Continental can also be found in previous reports on the subject: "Continental Hack: Also VW and Mercedes documents at LockBit”Or“Hacker: LockBit 3.0 offers Continental file list for download".
Editor/sel