Belle Tire reveals tens of thousands exposed in cyberattack

American automotive retailer Belle Tire fell victim to cybercriminals earlier this year, with the attacks’ post-mortem revealing how many people had their details exposed.

Belle Tire’s systems were penetrated sometime in the early summer of this year, as the company’s admins noticed unauthorized activity on its network on June 11th, 2024.

The company, which is over a hundred years old, operates 182 locations in the US with over 2,000 staff and focuses on servicing vehicle tires and wheels.

Months after the attacks, Belle Tire started informing individuals whose data may have been impacted. According to information the company submitted to the Maine Attorney General, nearly 30,000 people had their details exposed.

The breach notification letter indicates that the attackers downloaded a copy of the company’s data which included:

• Names
• Addresses
• Dates of birth
• Social Security numbers or driver’s license

Darkweb dwellers utilize similar details for a wide variety of nefarious purposes, including identity theft and targeted phishing attacks.

The Play ransomware cartel victimized Belle Tire earlier this year, posting the company on its dark web blog, which it uses to showcase its latest victims.

At the time, the attackers said that they’d extracted numerous pieces of data, including client documents, payroll and financial information.

Play ransomware was first spotted in June 2022. It was described as being inspired by Hive, another gang that reportedly recently folded.

According to Cybernews’ ransomware monitoring tool Ransomlooker, Play has victimized nearly 350 organizations over the last 12 months. Most notably, Play was behind the crippling attacks against the city of Oakland, California.