Cencora

History

2024: $75 million ransom payment to ransomware hackers

In mid-September 2024, it became known that the American distributor of pharmaceutical products Cencora paid cybercriminals $75 million. This is a record large ransom received by cybercriminals as a result of a hacker attack.

According to Bloomberg, the cyber group Dark Angels is behind the hacking of Cencora's IT infrastructure. The attackers stole a huge array of personal information, including the names of patients, their addresses, dates of birth, diagnoses, prescribed drugs, etc. Cencora discovered the data breach in February 2024.

Biopharma-reporter.com

It is noted that the pharmaceutical company paid the amount of $75 million bitcoins in the form of three transactions. At the same time, initially cybercriminals demanded twice as much - $150 million. A Cencora spokesman said the company does not comment on rumors or speculation. At the same time, he mentioned the quarterly financial report, which indicated the expenses incurred in connection with the "event." cyber security

The $75 million buyout was first reported in July 2024, when cybersecurity firm Zscaler and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said the hacker group Dark Angels received a huge payment. At the same time, the name of the victim was not disclosed. Brett Callow, managing director of cybersecurity consultancy FTI Consulting, called the $75 million buyout "unthinkable." Prior to that, the record belonged to the insurance company CNA Financial, which in 2021 paid cybercriminals $40 million.

Lottery jackpot-level payments like this one make the health and medicine sector a more attractive target for hackers. We're not talking about the amounts you can buy Ferrari for. These are amounts for which you can create your own army, "Callow said.[1]

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