PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad police's cyber cell is investigating a complaint that said a cybercrook demanded $80,000 (over Rs68 lakh) from a biopharmaceutical company in Hinjewadi in exchange for releasing the data he had hacked and encrypted.
A senior employee approached police on Monday after the company received a threatening email on April 27. A case under section 308 (
extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), sections 43 (penalty and compensation for damage to computer, computer system), 66 (computer-related offences), and 72 (penalty for breach of confidentiality and privacy) of the Information and Technology Act has been registered.
Police sub-inspector Sagar Poman told TOI that it is a case of ransomware attack. "Prima facie investigations revealed that a cybercrook sent a malicious email to one of the employees and later gained access to a server. There are 15 servers in the company. The hacker got access to all of them."
The hacker then started copying the data, Poman said. "By the time the employees realised what was happening, the hacker had copied the entire data, encrypted it, and put a password on it."
Poman said the hacker sent emails to company officials seeking $80,000 within three days. "He also threatened that if the company tried to decrypt the data, they would lose it within 24 hours. The cybercrook also said that if the money was not transferred to him, he would sell the data on the dark web."
For the last two days, the company's operations have stopped, the police officer said. "We will record statements of about 300 employees."
Rohan Nyayadish, director of Digital Task Force, too called it a case of ransomware attack in which data of a company is either stolen or compromised due to un-updated firewalls or online security measures. "Firms must follow security audit norms issued by Central govt on April 1 and they should spend money on insuring their data and research."
The cyber criminals steal data or programmes of a company after targeting its servers, Nyayadish further said. "Cyber criminals generally demand ransoms via cryptocurrencies. Companies should not pay it and report the matter to the police; experts can retrieve the data."
Advocate and cybercrime expert Gaurav Jachak said ransomware is not just a cyberattack - it is digital extortion, and strong cybersecurity is the only shield. "Such crimes are punishable under the IT Act and the BNS. It is important for victims to quickly report to the cyber police and keep all digital proof safe. People must also know that paying ransom is not the solution - it only encourages criminals. Companies should regularly back up their important data in a mirror image format on multiple devices to stay safe from such attacks."
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