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Ransomware newcomer VanHelsing claims successful breach of a Victoria-based manufacturer of diagnostic equipment.
Compumedics, a medical and diagnostic device manufacturer headquartered in Victoria, has been listed on the darknet leak site of a relatively new ransomware gang.
The VanHelsing operation shared limited details of the alleged breach on 26 March, publishing a short description of the Compumedics – copied from the company’s website – alongside a countdown to publication of the allegedly stolen data.
As of the time of writing, the data is expected to be published within 16 days.
VanHelsing has not mentioned the volume of data it claims to have stolen, nor its ransom demand. However, the gang has published an extensive file tree of stolen data, and – if accurate – the information includes several passport scans belonging to staff in the company’s US office, credit application forms, product and testing data, purchase orders, and other employee data.
The hackers also claim to have breached NeuroMedical Supplies, one of Compumedics’ subsidiaries.
Cyber Daily has reached out to Compumedics but has yet to receive a reply.
VanHelsing is a very new ransomware operation with a remarkably nondescript leak site that says little about the group. The group claimed its first victim – the city of Bellville in the United States – on 17 March, and since then, has claimed a total of five victims, with Compumedics being the latest.
According to researchers at Check Point, VanHelsing is a ransomware-as-a-service operation that requires a US$5,000 deposit for affiliates to join. Once in, affiliates can earn up to 80 per cent of any ransom payment – the only rule that affiliates need to follow is that no organisations within the Commonwealth of Independent States are to be targeted.
Despite ransomware tracker Ransomlook.io counting those five victims, only four are currently listed in VanHelsing’s leak site.
Compumedics has its global headquarters in Abbotsford, Victoria, but it has offices in Germany, the United States, and France. The company works in medical diagnostic equipment, which it develops, manufactures, and sells.
Its customers include the National Institutes of Health, the Stanford School of Medicine, and Walter Reed Army Hospital in the US; Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne in Australia; the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary in the United Kingdom; and Beijing University Medical Hospital in China.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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