The REvil ransomware and savvy phone scammers have exposed sensitive information.

A pair of cyberattacks on high-profile targets – the owner of the Jack Daniels distillery and the iconic Ritz London hotel – have resulted in the exposure of sensitive information.

The maker behind Jack Daniels and other alcoholic beverages, Brown-Forman Corp., has suffered a recent cyberattack by the REvil ransomware gang. The company said that while it was able to thwart the actual encryption of files, some employee data may have been exposed.

Meanwhile, the Ritz London disclosed a data breach of its own, which it said it became aware of on Aug. 14.

Jack Daniels Takes a Swig of Cyberpain

In an email to Bloomberg, the purported cybercriminals behind the attack on Brown-Forman Corp., identifying as the REvil gang, claimed to have lifted 1 terabyte of information from the distiller after it hacked into the company’s internal networks, and provided a link to its online data-leak site.

The Louisville, Ky.-based company, which also owns other brands like Finlandia vodka, said in a media statement that it is “working closely with law enforcement, as well as world-class third-party data security experts, to mitigate and resolve this situation as soon as possible. There are no active negotiations.”

The REvil contact confirmed, “An attempt at dialogue with the company did not bring any results.”

REvil, also known as Sodinokibi, first appeared in April 2019 and has since appeared in several high-profile cyberattacks, such as one in January that targeted Travelex and another in May that targeted a popular law firm that works with several A-list celebrities.

REvil is thought to operate as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), where one group maintains the code and rents it out to other groups, known as affiliates, who carry out attacks and spread the ransomware. Any profits made are then split between the affiliates and the original gang, said researchers.

The malware is also at the forefront of the one-two punch trend of locking up files, but also stealing and threatening to release sensitive data if victims don’t pay up. In the case of the celebrity law firm (Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks), the attackers threatened to leak 756 gigabytes of stolen data, including personal info on Lady Gaga, Drake and Madonna.

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