Extortionist hacks IT provider used by the stars of tech and big biz, leaks customer info after ransom goes unpaid

A service provider hired by the likes of Oracle, SAP, BT, and many others, to manage their IT systems has been hacked – and its client data held to ransom.

At the turn of this month, Germany-based CityComp was broken into by a miscreant, who pinched troves of private information from its customer database and threatened to publicly reveal all that stolen data unless a ransom was coughed up.

The hacker, going by the name Boris, told The Register that right now a partial sample of the swiped info is available to download from a Tor-hidden dark web site, and because the ransom was not paid by CityComp, the full archives are set to be released today. Boris claimed the price was $5,000, though CityComp disputes this and says it was more than that.

CityComp boasts it looks after "more than 70,000 servers and storage systems of all types and sizes in up to 75 countries. In addition, we provide support for more than 500,000 client hardware (PC, workstation, printer, cash register)."

In other words, it's hired to install, maintain, repair, and remove IT equipment for scores of companies, ranging from Oracle, SAP, BT, Toshiba, VW and Airbus to Porsche, Hugo Boss, Ericsson and ATOS.

According to Register sources who have seen the partially leaked information, the data so far includes things like contact information for CityComp's customers – such as names, email addresses and phone numbers – notes of meetings with clients, and IT equipment inventories, such as model numbers, specifications, and serial numbers. How much is available to download depends on the victim: some have a few spreadsheets of contact details leaked, and some have what's said to be long lists of installed computer gear and other documentation.

This information could be useful to criminals seeking any inside information to pull off targeted cyber-attacks against certain corporations. We're not talking direct identity theft, here.

According to Boris, "312,570 files in 51,025 folders, over 516 Gb data financial and private information on all clients, include VAG, Ericsson, Leica, MAN, Toshiba, UniCredit, British Telecom and etc," was stolen from the German service provider.

Michael Bartsch, of infosec outfit Deutor, which was drafted in to handle the aftermath of CityComp's network intrusion, told El Reg "the stolen data is mostly data about hardware inventories, like hardware type, OS, memory, serial numbers, etc. Only a few personal data records were affected."

Bartsch, who was authorized to speak on behalf of CityComp, also confirmed that while the cyber-break-in was eventually thwarted, affected servers unplugged, and security shored up, more customer information may well leak out beyond what's already available because CityComp "does not yield to blackmail." German cops and prosecutors have also been alerted, according to Bartsch, who told us:

Finally, Boris told us that CityComp at first showed interest in paying the ransom in exchange for his or her silence and technical details of the intrusion, but it appears once the service provider learned of the vulnerability exploited by the hacker to steal the information, it backed out, fixed up the hole, and refused to pay. Boris claimed many companies cough up the cash to keep leaks private and holes patched when he or she contacts them.

"At the beginning of our communication, they [CityComp] agreed that they will pay for our work and we will help them to eliminate vulnerabilities in their network, but they deceived us," said Boris. "Many companies pay us for our work, and we do not publish data and help them to eliminate vulnerabilities."

We've contacted many of CityComp's customers affected by this security breach, first reported earlier today by Motherboard, including Oracle, BT, Airbus, Ericsson, Hugo Boss, NH Hotels, and Toshiba. Spokespeople were not available for immediate comment. ®

Additional reporting by Iain Thomson.