Kia Faces $20M DoppelPaymer Ransomware Attack

Kia Motors America this week experienced a nationwide IT outage; now, reports indicate the company was hit with ransomware.

Dark Reading Staff, Dark Reading

February 18, 2021

1 Min Read
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Kia Motors America has reportedly been hit with a DoppelPaymer ransomware attack in which operators have demanded $20 million for both a decryptor and the promise to not leak stolen data, BleepingComputer reports. 

News of the attack follows a nationwide IT outage that Kia experienced this week. The outage affected its mobile UVO Link apps, phone services, payment systems, owner portal, and internal sites used by dealerships, the report states. Some Kia websites alerted users to the outage.

A ransom note obtained by the publication indicates Kia Motors America was targeted by the DoppelPaymer ransomware operators. In their note, attackers say they targeted Kia parent company Hyundai, which so far appears to be unharmed.

On a Tor victim page, attackers claim to have taken a "huge" amount of data and threaten to publish the information within two to three weeks if Kia doesn't fulfill the attackers' demands. Right now, the ransom is reportedly $20 million; if left unpaid for a certain amount of time, the amount goes up to $30 million. 

Read more details here.

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