Hackers leak sensitive data of US nuclear missile contractor

In yet another case of a cyberattack, cybercriminals hacked into United States nuclear contractor and have leaked out sensitive information.

As per Sky News, hackers have stolen confidential information from Westech International, which serves as a US military contractor that provides maintenance to US’s Minuteman III nuclear deterrent.

The report said that Westech has confirmed that it’s been hacked and that its computers have been encrypted. “We recently experienced a ransomware incident, which affected some of our systems and encrypted some of our files,” Westech said in a media statement.

“Upon learning of the issue, we immediately commenced an investigation and contained our systems. We have also been working closely with an independent computer forensic firm to analyze our systems for any compromise and to determine if any personal information is at risk.”

It’s not yet certain that if the hackers have managed to steal classified military information. However, the attackers have already leaked files suggesting that they had access to sensitive data such as payroll and emails and are threatening to publish all of the files.

As per details, the cyber attack was carried out using Maze ransomware attack, under which in addition to encrypting files and offering the decryption key in exchange for a ransom payment, Maze also automatically copies all affected files to the hackers' servers.

Earlier, a senior Google official alleged that state-backed hackers from China have targeted staffers working on the US presidential campaign of Democrat Joe Biden. The same official said Iranian hackers had recently targeted email accounts belonging to Republican President Donald Trump’s campaign staff.