FBI Joins Investigation Into Continental Cyberattack – Report

The global implication of a recent cyberattack on German car tyre manufacturer Continental AG is spreading, media reports suggest.

Last week Continental reportedly said it was investigating the alleged theft of company data following a cyberattack it had confirmed back in August.

At the time Continental said that attack had been averted after attackers infiltrated parts of the firm’s IT systems.

FBI joins investigation

The German tyre giant said that it had detected the attack in early August and then averted it.

But that may not be the whole picture it seems.

Continental declined to comment on media reports last week that hackers had allegedly put stolen information up for sale.

And now Reuters on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is now involved in the Continental investigation.

The FBI was reportedly brought on board by German security authorities, the person told Reuters, confirming an earlier Handelsblatt report.

Handelsblatt had reported that hackers had stolen around 40TB of data, and LockBit 3.0 apparently published a list of the data on the dark web.

The published data reportedly included budget, investment and strategy plans, as well as information related to some Continental customers.

Handelsblatt reportedly said the hackers had put the data up for sale for $50 million after Continental “apparently did not want to pay a ransom.”

No comment

Continental declined to comment on the matter, and the FBI was not immediately available for comment, Reuters noted.

It is known however that Continental operates a number of factories in the United States, which may explain why the FBI has been drafted into the investigation.

LockBit continues to be the most detected ransomware globally, generating 22 percent of detections, cybersecurity specialist Trellix noted last week.