Image: Sony
A new ransomware group claims to have breached ‘all of Sony systems’ and is selling off the stolen data.
A newcomer ransomware group called Ransomed.vc has reportedly hacked ‘all of Sony systems’ with plans to sell off the ill-gotten data. According to the cybersecurity website Cyber Security Connect, the group was established last month and has racked up, “an impressive amount of victims,” since.
Ransomed.vc has links to existing forums and groups in the hacking scene, but otherwise remains a mysterious newcomer. The group announced that it had compromised Sony’s systems on leak sites across both the clear and dark net, saying: “We have successfully compromissed [sic] all of sony systems. We wont ransom them! we will sell the data. due to sony not wanting to pay. DATA IS FOR SALE.” The group goes on to provide some evidence for the leak, before adding, “WE ARE SELLING IT.”
The evidence remains unverified however, and Sony itself has not acknowledged the leak in any way. Ransomed.vc attached links to a file tree of the link containing less than 6000 files, but it’s unclear how these could possibly encompass ‘all of Sony systems’. The file tree contains ‘build log files’, HTML files and Java resources. Also included in the announcements were screenshots of a log-in page, a PowerPoint presentation going over testbench details and a few Java files. Japanese characters were reportedly featured in many of these sample files.
Ransomed.vc has not named a price, but left its contact details for various platforms on the announcement. The rest of us will find out if the leak is real on September 28, 2023, the day on which the hacking outfit plans to publish all of Sony’s stolen data. VGC also claims that the group operates out of Russia and Ukraine, and works with the EU’s GDPR and data privacy laws to report cybersecurity vulnerabilities and violations in company systems. It is also currently advertising for recruitment.
While Sony hasn’t acknowledged the hack, the company has gone through something like this before. In 2011, the PlayStation Network went through a huge data breach compromising 77 million accounts and turning online services off. More recently, Rockstar Games fell victim to a massive hack that saw early gameplay videos from GTA 6 leak online. STALKER 2's Ukrainian developers also suffered a Russia-linked data breach recently.