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Aerospace giant Airbus has confirmed it has been the target of a cyber attack and is actively investigating the incident.
An individual hacker with links to start-up ransomware group Ransomed posted the data on a popular hacking forum on Monday, 12 September, and an Airbus spokesperson shared an update on the incident with Cyber Security Connect on 13 September.
“Airbus has launched an investigation into a cyber event during which an IT account associated with an Airbus customer has been attacked,” the Airbus spokesperson said in a statement. “This account was used to download business documents dedicated to this customer from an Airbus web portal.”
The hacker – who goes by the online name of USDoD – shared some samples of the 3,200 lines of data they had exfiltrated. The list appears to be complete details for a number of senior-level employees of many of Airbus’ partners. Employees of Thales Aviation appear prominently in the sample set, including place of work, email addresses, and global areas of responsibility.
“Immediate remedial and follow-up measures were taken by our security teams to prevent our systems from being compromised,” Airbus said.
The company also added that it expects to be a target of such attacks.
“As a major high-tech and industrial player, Airbus is also a target for malicious actors,” the statement continued. “Airbus takes cyber security seriously and continuously monitors activities on its IT systems, has solid protection tools, skilled cyber experts and associated processes to protect the company by taking immediate and appropriate measures as and when needed.”
Airbus is continuing to monitor the incident.
In 2019, Airbus and the Thales Group signed a joint cyber security agreement to work as partners, pairing Airbus’ Orion Malware analysis platform with Thales’ CYBELS Sensor intrusion detection platform.
“This cooperation will enable the two companies to offer the best detection solution on the market, increasing the overall level of cyber defence for businesses and organisations,” the two companies said in a statement at the time.
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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