L3Harris may have been hacked, defense data stolen
Cybersecurity company BetterCyber is reporting that the Abyss ransomware group is claiming to have hacked Melbourne-based aerospace and defense company L3Harris Technologies Inc. and stolen data related the company’s work on an Army communications system.
In a statement to FLORIDA TODAY, L3Harris said that, several weeks ago, it experienced an information-technology “system disruption that affected an isolated network at one location. The incident was immediately contained, and the system was secured.”
The statement said L3Harris continuously validates “information security approaches to detect, respond to and ultimately protect the integrity of company and customer data frameworks and architectures.”
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An L3Harris spokeswoman said she could not comment on whether the company lost any data related to this incident, and that L3Harris would not have any additional comment beyond its prepared statement.
BetterCyber tweeted an image of what appeared to a blog post of some sort offering to sell to a “single buyer” data about L3Harris’ Wideband SATCOM Operations and Technical Support-2 program, under which the company offers technical support to the Army’s satellite communication systems.
BetterCyber did not immediately respond to FLORIDA TODAY’s request for more information.
Ransomware is a process that, in effect, holds a computer or computer system “hostage” by encrypting files and demanding payment to return control of the computer systems back to the owners.
It is not clear if hackers were in fact able to steal or otherwise compromise L3Harris’ data.
The industrial cybersecurity company Dragos Inc. recently reported that “ransomware attacks continued to be a significant threat to industrial organizations and infrastructure in the first quarter of 2023. This trend underscores the growing sophistication and opportunism of ransomware groups.”
Dragos said it detected 214 ransomware incidents in the first quarter of 2023, a 13% increase from the previous quarter.
Dragos reported…
