- Hackers recently claimed to having breached Telefonica and stealing sensitive information
- The company confirmed the breach and said it was investigating
- The crooks broke into an internal ticketing system
Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica has confirmed suffering a cyberattack, and said it was currently investigating its scope and potential damage.
The news comes after cybercriminals posted a new thread on a dark web forum containing a Jira database allegedly belonging to the company. One of the attackers spoke to BleepingComputer and said that the “internal ticketing system” is an internal Jira development and ticketing server which Telefónica uses to report and resolve internal issues.
The miscreants used compromised employee accounts to steal 2.3GB of documents, tickets, and other information.
The Hellcat connection
Apparently, the company was breached by four cybercriminals, three of which form the Hellcat Ransomware operation. This group emerged in late 2024, and quickly made a name for itself after targeting Schneider Electric and stealing more than 40GB of information.
In a peculiar move, Hellcat demanded a ransom of $125,000 to be paid in “baguettes,” a term they later clarified as referring to Monero cryptocurrency, likely using the term “baguettes” to gain media attention.
Telefónica has now confirmed the breach, telling BleepingComputer it was currently looking into the matter.
“We have become aware of an unauthorized access to an internal ticketing system which we use at Telefónica,” the company told the publication. “We are currently investigating the extent of the incident and have taken the necessary steps to block any unauthorized access to the system.”
Telefónica is a leading Spanish telecommunications company with a global presence, serving approximately 392 million customers across Europe and Latin America. It operates in countries including Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and several others in Latin America. In the first half of 2024, Telefónica reported revenues of $22.03 billion, with a net income of $1.06 billion, reflecting a 28.9% increase compared to the same period in the previous year.
The company maintains a strong market presence, with mobile market shares ranging from 18.2% in Mexico to nearly 54% in Venezuela as of 2023.
Via BleepingComputer
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