Hackers Try to Install Ransomware at Cybersecurity Firm Dragos

pcmag.com:

What happens when a hacker tries to break into a cybersecurity provider? One such company, Dragos, is disclosing(Opens in a new window) a recent encounter with a cybercriminal group that tried to install ransomware on its systems. 

According to Dragos, the hackers tried to launch their extortion scheme on Monday after compromising the personal email account of a new sales employee, who had yet to officially start at the company.

By exploiting the compromised email account, Dragos said the “known cybercriminal group”  tried to impersonate the sales employee to gain greater access to its internal systems. Dragos is best known for protecting industrial IT systems, so any breach could have ensnared numerous customers involved in the manufacturing and critical infrastructure sector. 

However, Dragos’s own security systems managed to stop the hackers, blocking off their access through the compromised email account. “No Dragos systems were breached, including anything related to the Dragos Platform,” the company said in the report. “We are confident that our layered security controls prevented the threat actor from accomplishing what we believe to be their primary objective of launching ransomware.”   

Still, the hackers gained access to a Microsoft SharePoint account and a Dragos contract management system. As a result, the cybercriminals had access to intel reports and other “general use data” from the company. “In one instance, a report with IP addresses associated with a customer was accessed, and we’ve reached out to the customer,” Dragos added. 

But even though the hackers failed to break into the company’s main network, the cybercriminal group still tried to extort Dragos, claiming it had stolen sensitive data. This