Hackers Claim to Have Breached Saudi Aramco Again on August 25

Right after they attacked the systems of oil giant Saudi Aramco, the hackers promised to breach the company’s networks once again on August 25 and, according to a statement published on Pastebin, they succeeded.
While initially the company insisted that the damage was contained, in a recent statement they admitted that 30,000 workstations were affected by a malicious virus (just as the hackers said).

The firm’s representatives claimed that everything was restored to normal and that operations were resumed on August 25.

“We addressed the threat immediately, and our precautionary procedures, which have been in place to counter such threats, and our multiple protective systems, have helped to mitigate these deplorable cyber threats from spiraling,” explained Khalid A. Al-Falih, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco.

“Saudi Aramco is not the only company that became a target for such attempts, and this was not the first nor will it be the last illegal attempt to intrude into our systems, and we will ensure that we will further reinforce our systems with all available means to protect against a recurrence of this type of cyber-attack,” Al-Falih added.

There’s no mention of another attack on August 25, but according to a group of hackers, they did penetrate the organization’s networks once again.

“We think it's funny and weird that there are no news coming out from Saudi Aramco regarding Saturday's night. Well, we expect that but just to make it more clear and prove that we're done with we promised, just read the following facts -valuable ones- about the company's systems,” they wrote.

They published the details of core routers, backup routers, and middle routers, along with their access credentials which included clear text passwords.

They also made available Khalid Al-Falih’s email address and associated password (in clear text), and the security appliances utilized by the company to protect its infrastructures. 

“We think and truly believe that our mission is done and we need no more time to waste. I guess it's time for SA to yell and release something to the public. However, silence is no solution,” the hackers concluded.

It’s uncertain at this point if this hacker collective – which signed the file with “angry internet lovers #SH” – is connected in any way to “Cutting Sword of Justice,” the group which has taken credit for the previous attack.

Categories: Cyber Crime