Foxconn Hacked to Extort About $34.2 Million, Large Amount of Business Data Stolen and Posted on the Dark Web

According to Bleeping Computer, Foxconn's server in Mexico was recently attacked by hackers and ransomed, and was asked to pay 1,804 bitcoins, worth about $34.2 million.

In response, Foxconn said that its American factory was indeed attacked by a cyber extortion virus, and its internal security team has now completed updating its software and operating system security, as well as raising the level of information security protection. The network of the affected plant is gradually returning to normal, and the impact on the overall operation of the group is not significant.

Bleeping Computer described in the report that hackers used ransomware to attack Foxconn's North American plants on Thanksgiving Day, November 29. In addition to the assembly plant in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the state of Wichita was included in the attack.

In addition, the hackers claimed to have compromised and encrypted approximately 1,200 servers at Foxconn's North American plant and stole 100GB of unencrypted files, deleted 20-30TB of backups, and encrypted data related to operations.

According to the report, the hackers obtained internal files on Foxconn and sold them on the dark web, and the compromised data included business documents but not financial or employee information.

After encrypting the factory equipment, the hacker gave a link on the page to the DoppelPaymer Tor payment site and threatened to demand a payment of 1804.0955 bitcoins. Based on today's bitcoin value, that's equivalent to $34686,000.

Foxconn is one of the world's largest electronics manufacturing companies, with revenues of $172 billion in 2019 and more than 800,000 employees worldwide. Foxconn's subsidiaries include Sharp Corporation, Innolux, FIH Mobile, and Belkin.

The plant that was attacked is believed to have opened in 2005 and was used by Foxconn to assemble and ship electronic equipment to all of South and North America.