Coca-Cola allegedly hacked by Russia-linked hacker group, stolen data now up for sale
India Today
A hacker group claims to have breached the servers of Coca-Cola and stolen crucial data of the company. Investigations are now underway to validate the claims.
Coca-Cola may have been the target of a cyber attack if the claims of recent data theft by hacker group Stormous are to be believed. The group has put the data on sale on the dark web, allegedly containing the company's financial data, accounts and passwords. The asking price for the 161GB worth of data is $64,000.
Coca-Cola has launched an urgent investigation into the matter, having alerted law enforcement about the incident. In a statement to The Record, the company acknowledged that it is "aware of this matter" and is now investigating the breach to determine the validity of the hacker group's claim.
Stormous had made headlines recently for pledging support to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. The group now tries to sell the data stolen from Coca-Cola through its online portal. It claims that it has 161GB of data around the company's finances and accounts. A message by the group on Twitter mentions that it is open to selling the data in bits, based on the amount of data that the buyer wants.
The attack on Coca-Cola was apparently conducted after Stormous took a vote on its Telegram account, asking people which company it should attack first. A Security Affairs report mentions that Coca-Cola received 72 per cent of the votes, setting the target for the hackers.
The attack hints that the group may be financially motivated, though it clears that it is open to targeting companies without the need for a ransom. The one motive it has confirmed for now is its support for the Kremlin in the ongoing Ukraine invasion. In a message posted online in March, the group said that it will take action against "any party in different parts of the world" which organizes a cyberattack against Russia. It even took credit for hacking the government of Ukraine and a Ukrainian airline earlier. The group seems to have been active since the start of the year and posts most of its messages in Arabic.
