Ferrari Data Breach Disclosed: Attackers Gain Access to the Company’s Network While Demanding Ransom to Prevent Data Leakage

The massive cyber incident at Ferrari that compromised some of the company customers’ personal data has recently hit the headlines. Ferrari, the Italian industry-leading car manufacturer, covered the company’s data breach after threat actors that gained access to part of the organization’s IT infrastructure demanded a ransom not to leak the stolen data. Ferrari uncovered the breach after receiving the ransom demand, however, there is still some discussion among cyber defenders if the incident can be considered a ransomware attack. 

Detecting RansomEXX: A Ransomware Group Suspected to Stand Behind Ferrari Data Breach

Although Ferrari didn’t disclose the incident details, security experts assume the breach might be related to another ransomware campaign reported in October 2022. Back then, the RansomEXX ransomware operators stated that they managed to steal 7 GB of sensitive data from Ferrari. However, the vendor denied such claims at that time. 

In view of the growing amount and sophistication of ransomware attacks, security practitioners are looking for a reliable source of detection content to identify potential compromises. Although it is still unclear if the RansomEXX group is responsible for the Ferrari breach, SecOps teams can proactively strengthen organizational security posture by applying a сurated Sigma rule set to detect the malicious activity associated with RansomEXX:

Sigma Rules to Detect Potential RansomEXX Infections

To proactively identify cyber attacks against their infrastructure, SOC Prime users can also rely on curated detection content addressing RansomEXX-associated tactics, techniques, and procedures as per MITRE ATT&CK®.

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Ferrari Data Breach: What’s Behind the Cyber Incident

Since 2020, ransomware has remained a rising trend in the cyber threat landscape, with the increasing sophistication of attacks and ever-increasing volumes of malicious affiliates.

On March 20, 2023, Ferrari published a statement informing their customers about a cyber incident that led to compromising part of its IT environment. The leading carmaker uncovered that malicious actors demanded a ransom linked to the sensitive data of certain Ferrari customers. The company issued this statement to notify its customers of the potential data exposure and shed some light on the uncovered data breach. 

According to TechCrunch research, threat actors gained a foothold in the company’s network, reaching the sensitive data of some of their customers, including their names and contact details. Still, as Ferrari claims, no payment details of the Ferrari cars ordered or owned have been stolen by the attackers. 

Cybersecurity researchers assume that the Ferrari cyber incident might be related to October’s targeted ransomware campaign, in which threat actors known under the moniker “RansomEXX” claimed to have breached the car manufacturer. The TechCrunch investigation uncovered that in that ransomware operation, roughly 7GB of was stolen from Ferrari, like internal documentation, repair manuals, and other collaterals. 

Although part of the IT infrastructure has been affected along with the customers’ personal data exposed due to a potential ransomware attack, Ferrari claimed that the incident hadn’t affected any operational functionality of the company. 

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