BlackCat ransomware blunders in extorting a target

HWL Ebsworth, one of Australia’s most prominent law firms, stated that they would not comply with the demands of the BlackCat ransomware group. This law firm confirmed the cybercriminal incident to local media outlets, revealing that the earlier mentioned ransomware group threatened them to leak their data.

This Australian law firm has an annual revenue of over a million dollars. This entity is also the home of more than 2,000 employees and operates nine offices in the country.

 

The BlackCat ransomware group has finally decided to leak the stolen data from the law firm.

 

Earlier this week, the BlackCat ransomware group (aka ALPHV) exposed 1.45 terabytes of data containing over a million documents allegedly stolen from HWL Ebsworth last April. The threat actors have also threatened the company that they will leak more if they do not comply with the demands.

However, the law firm’s spokesperson insisted they would not fall to the threat group’s extortion demands, even if that meant sacrificing their clients’ information. In addition, the company stated that they take their moral and ethical duties to the community very seriously.

Hence, they will not tolerate any act of extortion from any entity. The company’s decision could also negate any further threat against them since they are willing to exchange the people’s data, so the actors will not get a single penny out of the attack.

Fortunately, the company has still communicated closely with their client. They have also clarified to their clients that privacy and security are their utmost priority. The company is asking for the patience of every relevant individual affected by this case.

Unfortunately, some people have concerns about the current incident since the law firm has business with the public sector, which means that the data leak could expose sensitive documents and confidential information related to the matters of the state.

Researchers revealed that the current and former clients of HWL Ebsworth suffered the attack’s impact. The leaked documents on BlackCat’s data leak website are easy to access. Therefore, anyone could use the exposed details for more cybercriminal operations soon.