Key facts:
The Lapsus$ hacker gang is presumed to be responsible for the attack.
Lapsus$ has already attacked Nvidia and Samsung, and had threatened Mercado Libre, Vodafone and Impresa.
In what is presumed to be another coup by the cybercriminal group Lapsus$, access to the data of 300,000 users and the source code of Mercado Libre, the largest electronic commerce platform in Latin America, was violated. The attack was confirmed yesterday afternoon, Monday, March 7, in an official statement from the company itself.
Free market reported what detected “unauthorized access” to user information, but the preliminary evaluation did not show evidence that its infrastructure systems were affected, or that the attackers “have obtained user passwords, account balances, investments, financial or payment card information.” In the same statement they announced that they are “taking strict measures to prevent further incidents.”
According to the information circulated on social networks, Lapsus$ conducted a survey among the followers of its Telegram channel, after claiming responsibility for the theft of 190 GB of secret data from Samsung. The poll asked them to vote for what they would like the next leak to be.
Among the options were the source code and about 200 GB from the telecommunications operator Vodafone; the source code and databases of the Impresa media conglomerate, as well as the source code of Mercado Libre and Mercado Pago.
The day after the publication of the survey, Mercado Libre announced the hacking of its platform. However, Lapsus$ had announced that the consultation would close on March 13. At the time of writing this article, the group has not attributed the theft of information to Mercado Libre, nor has it leaked new data on its Telegram channel.
Who are Lapsus$?
slip$ is a group of black hat hackers which has recently become popular for perpetrating cyber attacks on various large organizations. The gang is dedicated to extorting companies, after violating their computer security and stealing sensitive data. As has been commented in various media, the group could be operating from Brazil.
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As CriptoNoticias reported, at the end of February Lapsus$ violated the security of NVIDIA, the manufacturer of graphics cards (GPU) with the largest presence in the market worldwide. The group threatened to release 1 terabyte (TB) of sensitive data if the company did not agree to remove limiters added to its GPUs to discourage Ethereum mining.
At the beginning of the year Lapsus$ had attributed the attack to the organization Printed, the largest print and digital media conglomerate in Portugal. In this case, the attackers they demanded a ransom in exchange for not leaking the stolen data.
This Friday, March 4, Lapsus$ reported that it also they stole the source code of Samsung Galaxy phones of last generation, and other confidential data of the company. The stolen information was leaked by hackers on the same day, in a Torrent file. Samsung confirmed this Monday the attack, although, like Mercado Libre, it clarified that they do not foresee “any impact on our business or customers.”
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