Ukraine's ATB grocery chain confirms cyberattack, hackers threaten data leak

Cyberattack Confirmed by ATB

ATB, Ukraine's largest grocery store chain, confirmed on Monday that it experienced a cyberattack. This confirmation followed an extortion demand posted on its website by the hacker group DataSuckers.

Ransom Demand and Data Claims

The DataSuckers group demanded $400,000 and threatened to publish data allegedly stolen from millions of ATB customers. A countdown timer for the ransom appeared on ATB's website before being removed, and the website was subsequently unavailable. The group claims to possess data for 7.9 million customers, including names, phone numbers, email and physical addresses, password hashes, employee passport information, and over 11 million order records.

ATB stated that customer data had not been compromised and temporarily took some online services offline for technical maintenance. The company asserted that its website remained under its control and all information was securely protected.

Hackers Publish Data Samples

In response to ATB's denial, DataSuckers published samples of the alleged stolen data on their Telegram channel. They indicated they would sell the entire database rather than leak it. The authenticity and scale of the claimed breach could not be independently verified.

DataSuckers' Previous Activities

DataSuckers identifies as a financially motivated group and uses Telegram to detail its intrusions. The group recently claimed responsibility for attacks against several large Russian businesses, including Dodo Pizza in September. Dodo Pizza later confirmed that customer names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and order details might have been accessed in that incident.