Cybercrime: Apache OpenOffice denies ransomware attack

The Apache Software Foundation is said to have been the target of a cyberattack in the context of OpenOffice, during which criminals copied internal data. At least, that's what the ransomware gang Akira claims on its website. Now Apache is stepping in and denying an attack.

Criminals claim

This is stated in an official statement, which is available to the IT news website BleepingComputer, among others. Akira claims to have copied 23 gigabytes of data during the IT break-in. The archive is said to contain, among other things, personal data of employees, such as addresses and credit card details. Furthermore, business data on finances and support documents are said to be stored therein.

Akira states that they intend to upload the data to their leak portal promptly. However, this has not happened yet. The procedure of publishing usually serves as a means of pressure to make victims pay a ransom. However, such data is often also offered for sale. In this case, there is currently no further information from the extortion side regarding the further course of action.

Potential victim makes a statement

In its statement, Apache OpenOffice explains that there has been no ransom demand so far. Because OpenOffice is an open-source project and employees are not paid accordingly, the data listed by Akira does not exist at all. Since the development of the office suite is publicly accessible, all relevant data is known and available to everyone anyway.

At this point in time, they deny a cyberattack and have consequently not involved any criminal investigators.

(des)