Two Swiss subsidiaries have been affected by the ransomware attack on the French construction group Bouygues Construction. In addition, the hackers are now demanding a hefty ransom.
IT Systems Were Paralyzed Since New Year
The IT systems of the French construction company Bouygues Construction have been paralyzed since the end of last week. Due to a ransomware attack, these were switched off as a precaution, the company said. This was intended to prevent spreading. However, the operational activity is not restricted by the incident, it was said.
However, the two companies also provided with a record that the work in the branches, on the construction sites and the service in the customers properties can be continued. However, they did not provide any information about the remaining duration of the restrictions due to the cyberattack.
Due to the increasing digital networking, cybercrime has become more important than the knowledge gained from human sources. Sometimes the traditional espionage activity and the digital attacks complemented each other. The Federal Council is also taking into account the growing threat from the Internet. To improve protection against cyber risks, it has created a coordination office in the finance department. This is where the threads of the various official agencies that are responsible for the strategy to protect against cyberattacks come together.
According to Swiss media reports, the attackers have also spoken out – it is said to be the well-known hacking group Maze. The professional hackers by publishing documents that they could tap in the attack. According to them, more than 700 terabytes of data have been captured. Now the hacker group apparently demands million dollars so that the data is not released. Other companies have already fallen victim to the notorious hacker group – recently the tool manufacturer Einhell or the US cable company Southwire.
