BMW purportedly infiltrated by Everest ransomware gang

Russia-linked Everest ransomware operation has laid claim to compromising major German multinational luxury automaker BMW Group, according to Cybernews. In a post on its leak site dated September 14, Everest asserted the theft of crucial audit files from BMW's servers, while threatening the removal of data within less than a day and warning that negotiations should be conducted within a little over 48 hours. Additional details are needed to determine the extent of the breach, which has not yet been acknowledged by BMW, said Cybernews Senior Information Security Researcher Aras Nazarovas. "They mention the data is audit-related, which could mean lots of sensitive documents, but could also be a mistranslation, which is common for Everest," Nazarovas added. Everest's alleged breach of BMW comes just weeks after leading UK automaker Jaguar Land Rover was targeted by Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters threat group in an attack, which has resulted in data compromise and prolonged production shutdowns.