Canadian mining companies face cyber extortion

The wealth of mining companies and their highly paid executives have always made them ideal targets for thieves.

Evidence has now become available in connection with Canadian mining companies facing the most sophisticated cybercriminal intent to extort tens of thousands of dollars under the threat of releasing stolen data to the public.

According to a report released by FireEye, which provides solutions to combat cyber attackers, the main victims of the cyber ransomware scheme that operated between 2013 and 2016 were Canadian mining companies and casinos.

Companies were robbed of sensitive files, such as corporate records, private communications, and customer information, and then demanded a ransom. On at least two occasions, hackers used emails with malicious attachments to lure victims into clicking a link that directed them to FIN10 monitored servers.