Second Largest Laptop Manufacturer In The World
Compal is huge. They build laptops for Apple, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, HP, and Fujitsu. This makes it even more worrisome that the Taiwanese manufacturer was reportedly hit by ransomware. The leak was reported on Sunday. Subsequently, employees returning to work Monday were instructed to check their machines and back up important data.
The executives at Compal are telling a different story, however. It’s believed the DoppelPaymer ransomware gang is responsible for the attack. That is, unless, you ask Compal Deputy Manager Director Qingxiong Lu. He admitted that the company suffered a security breach but denied it was ransomware. Furthermore, Qingxiong said the incident only impacted the company’s internal office network.
That isn’t the case, says Compal’s employees, some of whom shared copies of the ransom note with local media. They say the “abnormalities” being reported are a full on ransomware attack. Most importantly, this will make Compal the third major Taiwanese company this year to be hit by ransomware.
Secrets Don’t Help
The most worrisome part of the attack is the lack of transparency. Compal, being such a large company, is keeping the details of this incident as guarded as possible. With the multiple attacks leveraged at Taiwanese companies, what is needed is more transparency, not less. Being able to fully investigate large scale attacks like this is the only way to help prevent them in the future.
Ransomware protection isn’t foolproof. We do need real world examples to be able to come up with real world solutions. As long as companies like Compal keep the details secret, they keep us from making advances is protection. There need to be stronger regulations on reporting.
