Sensitive data – cyber attack: hackers target lawyers

Attacks on the Internet do not always have to be directly targeted at individuals and companies. Sometimes cybercriminals also sneak into company systems indirectly. This is what happened in a treacherous case that cyber expert “Krone” Dr. Cornelius Granig discovered.

A list of stolen datasets recently appeared on the Darknet, stolen from ten victims. An unknown hacker group called “Helldown Leaks” is responsible for this. The first name on the list immediately sounded familiar to the security specialist. It is a company based in Vienna that claims to be one of the leading providers of software for the legal sector.

Up to 15,000 people affected by data breach?
This means that their 1,250 clients and 15,000 users include a number of local lawyers, notaries and corporate legal departments. These are all likely to contain highly sensitive data on clients, procedures and contracts. What was stolen during the attack and to what extent professional secrets are involved is currently unknown.

The industry has kept a low profile about the attack so far. Behind closed doors, however, people say that nervousness is growing. A few months ago, as reported, a renowned Viennese corporate lawyer was targeted by another hacking collective. In most cases, the sole purpose of publishing the datasets is to blackmail the hacked company for ransom. Otherwise, it is often said, the data would be offered for sale or posted online.

“The question is whether the perpetrators attacked by accident or whether it was an order,” Granig says. As vendors and software vendors increasingly become targets, it is important to include monitoring the digital supply chain in all security concepts.