Enel a $90 billion Fortune 500 company asked 1,000 Bitcoin ransomware

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For the second time this year, the Enel group, a multinational energy company, has seen their files locked and their computers hacked. In order to release the data, the hacking group is asking for more than 1,000 Bitcoin in payment (1,234 BTC to be exact, or some $16,2 million based on the current Bitcoin price).

The international group is quite embarrassed by the fact that this is already the second time this year that they’ve fallen prey to this kind of attack and will probably select to meet the criminals demand.

Fortune 500

The originally Italian group Enel is one of the largest companies present in the European energy sector. They have offices in some 40 countries and count well over 61 million customers.

1234.024 bitcoins, or $14 million. The biggest ransom we’ve seen to date?

Enel, one of the world’s largest utilities (ranked 87th in Fortune Global 500), has just been hit by ransomware operator Netwalker: https://t.co/cOxhuc89Sf pic.twitter.com/Zz63XDR7ep

— John Paul Koning (@jp_koning) October 27, 2020

When this year’s Fortune 500 list came out, Enel ranked as 87th in the world, showing a yearly revenue of some $90 billion.

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Although the demand for a Bitcoin payment as ransomware is embarrassing for a company their size, Enel is certainly not the only group to fall prey to these kinds of attacks.

Sony Hack

In fact, this new type of attack has become so widespread that HBO has launched a new documentary about the subject earlier this month, covering the history of hacking attacks.

:youtube[t4H6sjMis_s]

It all started with a cyberattack on the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran, only to become one of the most used weapons by foreign states to get back at the US.

Enel Group hit by ransomware again. They were hit by Snake earlier this year, but recovered quickly. This time it’s more serious, with NetWalker group threatening to publish 5 TB of data impacting Enel’s global operations if the ransom is not paid. https://t.co/QdWVPJhEni

— Stefan Tanase (@stefant) October 27, 2020

The documentary ranges from the Sands casino hack, the global Wannacry attack and goes all the way over the Sony hack that cancelled the movie release of The Interview, the spoof film by Seth Rogen.