Sensitive data

Cyber attack: hackers target lawyers

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/stock.adobe.com, zVg)

A new hacker group called "Helldown Leaks" is targeting notaries, lawyers and legal departments. However, it is targeting their software providers. 

Online attacks do not always have to target individuals and companies directly. Sometimes cyber criminals sneak into companies' systems indirectly. This is what happened in a perfidious case discovered by "Krone" cyber expert Dr. Cornelius Granig.

A list of stolen data records, captured from ten victims, recently appeared on the darknet. An unknown hacker group called "Helldown Leaks" is responsible for this. The first name on the list immediately sounded familiar to the security specialist. It is a company based in Vienna, which claims to be one of the leading providers of software for the legal sector.

The unknown hacker group posted the company's information and data records on the Darknet.

(Bild: zVg)

Up to 15,000 people affected by data leak?
Which means that its 1250 customers and 15,000 users include a number of local lawyers, notaries and corporate legal departments. All of whom are likely to have highly sensitive data on clients, procedures and contracts. What was stolen in the attack and to what extent professional secrets are affected is still unknown.

Lawyers and notaries are the target of many criminal attacks and, as holders of professional secrets, must be particularly vigilant to ensure that their sensitive data does not fall into the wrong hands.

Dr. Cornelius Granig ist der Cybersecurity- Experte der „Krone“.

The industry has so far kept a low profile about the attack. However, there is talk behind closed doors that nervousness is growing. A few months ago, a renowned Viennese business lawyer was reportedly the target of another hacker collective. Most of the time, the only aim of publishing the data records is to extort a ransom from the hacked company. Otherwise, it is often said, the data is offered for sale or posted online.

"The question is whether the perpetrators attacked by chance or whether it was a commissioned act," says Granig. As suppliers and software providers are increasingly becoming targets, it is important to include a review of the digital supply chain in all security concepts.