Apple is the target of a $ 50 million ransomware attack after the theft of a wealth of technical and manufacturing schemes for current and future products from Quanta, a Taiwan-based company that manufactures MacBooks and other products for Apple.
The leak, first reported by The record, was carried out by REvil, a Russian hacking group also known as Sodinokibi. The group had already started posting the stolen images on April 20, timed specifically to coincide with Apple’s latest “Spring Loaded” event, after Quanta refused to pay the $ 50 million ransom for the data. The group now hopes to get Apple itself to pay by May 1, and pledges to keep posting new images of the leak daily until it happens.
Quanta has confirmed that its servers have been breached in a statement to Bloomberg, commented: “Quanta Computer’s information security team has worked with external IT experts in response to cyber attacks on a small number of Quanta servers.” Quanta also says that “there is no material impact on the company’s operations” as a result of the hack.
REvil has a history of similar ransomware attacks, Bleep computer points out that the group has also carried out similar hacks on Acer and other companies in recent months. But the Quanta attack – due to its connection to Apple and its potential to reveal unannounced Apple hardware – marks the group’s most notable target yet.
The company has not yet clarified the extent of the leak, but images leaked by REvil so far contain schematics for Apple’s just-revealed iMac redesign – which had not been seen by anyone outside Apple’s sphere of influence before yesterday, believable that the documents are indeed accurate. The schedules also include warnings on almost every page, “This is Apple’s property and must be returned,” and they specify that the documents should not be reproduced, copied, or published.
The files revealed also include production diagrams for Apple’s already-released 2020 M1 MacBook Air refresh and an as-yet-unreleased laptop with additional ports in line with existing rumors of Apple’s upcoming laptop refresh.
These documents have been stolen and are being leaked to extort Apple and Quanta. Given the nature of their origins, we consider it unethical to report extensively on their content. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update this post with new information.