The Olympus camera giant said yesterday that it was investigating a possible cyber security incident affecting its European computer network, as well as the Middle East and Africa.
According to the announcement of the company Olympus, once they detected the suspicious activity, they mobilized their cybersecurity team and are working to resolve the issue. As part of the investigation, they say they have suspended the transfer data on the affected systems and have informed relevant external partners.
However, information from a person within the company who is aware of the incident, says that Olympus is "recovering" from a ransomware attack that started in the early hours of September 8. He goes on to say that there is a ransom note left by the criminals on the infected computers, which apparently comes from the ransomware group BlackMatter.
The ransom note also includes a web address to a website accessible only through the program tours Tor, known to be used by the BlackMatter group to communicate with their victims.
Η BlackMatter is a ransomware-as-a service group, which was founded as the successor to several ransomware groups, including DarkSide, which recently ceased operations after high profile ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, as well as REvil, which has been silent for months after the Kaseya attack that flooded hundreds of companies with ransomware. Both attacks attracted the attention of the American governments, which promised to take action, so that no critical infrastructure is hit again.
Teams like BlackMatter act as ransomware-as-a-service, meaning they rent access to their infrastructure, which other teams use to launch attacks, while BlackMatter receives whatever ransom is paid.
The usual tactic of BlackMatter, as well as other ransomware groups, is to steal data from a company's network before encrypting it and later threatening to publish the files on the Internet if the decryption ransom is not paid.
Based in Japan, Olympus now manufactures optical and digital reproduction technology for the medical industries. Until recently, the company made digital cameras and other electronics, until it sold its part in January 2021 cameras.
