Lockbit ransomware claims to have hacked Maximum Industries – one of the contractors of SpaceX, tasked to fabricate its rocket parts.
The ransomware group claims to have critical designs of SpaceX’s rockets and threatens to leak them if the company doesn’t agree to negotiate with them. While it’s unknown what the exact demands are, neither SpaceX nor Maximum Industries has responded till now.
Hacking a SpaceX Supplier
While hitting an ultimate target is hard, hackers often target the third-party vendors associated with the main target to hopefully obtain indirect access. This has worked for multiple victims in the past and now for SpaceX.
Lockbit ransomware group claims to have hit Maximum Industries – one of the suppliers of SpaceX, which is tasked with fabricating its rockets. The ransomware group claims to have stolen critical data from the victim – about 3,000 drawings belonging to SpaceX, and threatens to leak them online soon.
Forcing the victim to contact them before March 20th, Lockbit says the stolen data was “certified” by SpaceX engineers. Further,
“I would say we were lucky if Space-X contractors were more talkative. But I think this material will find its buyer as soon as possible. Elon Musk we will help you sell your drawings to other manufacturers – build the ship faster and fly away.”
Neither SpaceX nor Maximum Industries have responded to this incident yet. As we wait for them to confirm, Lockbit gang had a track record of hitting high-profile companies in the past – so we assume this claim to be reliable.
Some of the notable victims of Lockbit include ION – a financial technology company that had reportedly paid the ransom, UK’s Royal Mail service – which had its services disrupted for six weeks, and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, a government agency with a billion-dollar budget for providing homes to low-income people the US.
