Russia-linked hackers claim to have breached Coca-Cola Company

A ransomware gang that sided with Moscow claims it stole 161 GB of data from the multinational company.

The group behind Stormous ransomware announced it has hacked servers belonging to the Coca-Cola company.

A note on the gangs’ leak site says the they stole 161 GB of data. The stolen file list, obtained by CisoAdvisor, shows file names suggesting that threat actors stole financial data, passwords, commercial accounts, email addresses, and other data.

The gang is a relative newcomer to the ransomware game, gaining some attention at the beginning of 2022 after Stormous announced they stole 200 GB of data from Epic Games.

“We hacked some of the company’s servers and passed a large amount of data inside them without their knowledge, and we want to sell it to someone else,” reads a message on Stormous’ leak site.

Security Affairs blog reported that the gang launched a poll on Telegram, asking its members to choose the next target, and Coca-Cola got the most votes.

According to CisoAdvisor, Stormous sells 13 files it stole from Coca-Cola for $ 64,396.67 or 1.6467000 Bitcoin. A comparatively low sum in the ransomware business where an average demand for ransom stands at $2.2 million.

Similarly to the infamous Conti ransomware group, Stormous sided with the Kremlin amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The group is even said to have breached the network of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, obtaining sensitive data. The data, however, was already available on the dark web.

While the group claims to target only Western companies, security researchers are unsure whether the claims are accurate as confirmation for said attacks is lacking.

The hacker community started rallying to help Ukraine after Russian troops poured into Ukraine on February 24. Anonymous, Ukraine's IT Army, Hacker Forces, and many other hacktivist groups target Russia's state-owned enterprises and businesses.

According to the United Nations, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has created the 'fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.' Over 11 million people were displaced due to the conflict, with over 5.2 million fleeing the country.

Witness testimonies from Ukrainian towns Russian forces have occupied for close to a month point to severe human rights violations and targeted lethal attacks against civilians. Reports of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" got Russia suspended from the UN Human Rights Council.