Panasonic Canada acknowledges cyberattack in February

Panasonic Canada suffered a serious cyberattack in February, according to a news report. TechCrunch reported today that a Panasonic headquarters spokesperson said its response to the attack included identifying the scope of impact, containing the malware, cleaning and restoring servers, rebuilding applications and communicating rapidly with affected customers and relevant authorities. The news story also says that  VX-Underground, a malware research group that collects malware samples and data, says the Conti ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Conti claims to have stolen over 2.8 gigabytes of data from Panasonic Canada. According to TechCrunch, the files seem to be corporate documents, including spreadsheets and material from Panasonic’s HR and accounting departments. Another cybersecurity researcher today sent ITWorldCanada a screen shot of the Conti data leak site purporting to be data from Panasonic Canada. Among the alleged files are documents with the names “Budget 2020,” “Budget,” and “HR Global Database.” Panasonic Canada is a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation of North America, which in turn is part of the Japanese parent. According to its website, Panasonic Canada Inc. employs approximately 400 Canadians across the country. Panasonic makes and sells 2,000 products and solutions for the consumer, business, and industrial markets. Last November, Panasonic Corp. in Japan confirmed that its network was illegally accessed by a third party. As the result of an internal investigation, it said, it was determined that some data on a file server had been accessed during the intrusion. The post Panasonic Canada acknowledges cyberattack in February first appeared on IT World Canada.