Cyberattack: Accenture says no impact on operations, client systems

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US IT major Accenture August 12 said there has been no impact on its operations or its clients’ systems from the recent cyberattack. The consulting firm said it had immediately isolated the affected servers, which have now been restored.

On August 11, a hacker group claimed it was using Lockbit ransomware for hacking data from Accenture with the intention of leaking it to interested parties. “These people are beyond privacy and security. I really hope that their services are better than what I saw as an insider. If you are interested in buying some databases, reach us,” the hacker group is believed to have tweeted.

.@Accenture has been ransomed and/extorted by Lockbit ransomware group. Lockbit intends on leaking their data in (as of this tweet) 4 hours.

— vx-underground (@vxunderground) August 11, 2021

There is no clarity on the volume of data hacked. Cyble, a cyber risk intelligence platform, claimed in a tweet that the alleged leak could involve 6 terabytes worth of data and ransom to the tune of $50 million.

An Israel-based cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock claimed in a tweet that about 2,500 computers of employees and partners have been compromised, and this was used by the attackers.

In a statement to Moneycontrol, Accenture said in a statement, “Through our security controls and protocols, we identified irregular activity in one of our environments.  We immediately contained the matter and isolated the affected servers. We fully restored our affected systems from back up. There was no impact on Accenture’s operations, or on our clients’ systems.” However the company did not comment on queries seeking information about the nature of the attack and the volume of data leaked.

In April 2020, its peer Cognizant was affected by the Maze ransomware attack and said it estimates $50-70 million loss as a result of it.

Accenture reported $44.3 billion in revenues for the year ended August 2020 and employs about 569,000 people, of which over 200,000 are in India.