Mexico’s Pemex hit by Ransomware Attack, $4.9 Million Demanded
Pemex, Mexico’s government-owned petroleum company, has fallen victim to a ransomware attack. According to news reports, the $120 billion revenue Mexican oil major claims that the attackers demanded $5 million. It was forced to shut down a number of IT systems across the board over the weekend in response but refused to pay up within the 48 hours demanded by the attackers.
According to Reuters, which claims to have seen evidence from inside the company, Pemex has been hit with the DoppelPaymer ransomware, a fork of the BitPaymer ransomware picked-up by security firm CrowdStrike in July this year. Previous victims include the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture.
Reuters also claims to have had contact with the gang behind the malware. They claimed that Pemex missed the deadline for the “special price” for prompt payment but added that a new deadline had been set.
Pemex has so far refused to confirm or deny the reports.
The DoppelPaymer payment site offers a chat feature where a victim can get support or negotiate with the ransomware developers.
This online chat is empty, which indicates that Pemex did not attempt to use it to discuss the ransom with the attackers.
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