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A threat from a ransomware gang is prompting Subway to investigate a possible hack of the sandwich company’s IT systems.
Over the weekend, notorious ransomware group Lockbit claimed to have breached Subway and stolen the company’s corporate data.
“The biggest sandwich chain is pretending that nothing happened,” Lockbit wrote on its Dark Web site. “We exfiltrated their SUBS internal system which includes hundreds of gigabytes of data and all financial expects of the franchise, including employee salaries, franchise royalty payments, master franchise commission payments, restaurant turnovers etc.”
(Credit: Lockbit)The gang is now threatening to release the data on Feb. 2 unless Subway pays up. “We are giving some time for them to come and protect this data, if no we are open to sell to competitors,” Lockbit says.
So far, Subway hasn’t elaborated on the alleged breach. A company spokesperson merely told PCMag: “We are exploring the validity of the claim.”
If it's real, the hack could ensnare numerous users. Subway is one of the largest fast-food operators in the world with about 37,000 locations. The company also offers a mobile app, which has received over 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store.
Lockbit itself hasn’t shared any samples of the data it allegedly stole. But the group has become the most prolific ransomware gang on the planet, taking responsibility for hundreds of attacks against companies and organizations. The group operates by selling access to ransomware tools to a wide number of cybercriminals known as "affiliates," who then focus on infiltrating potential targets.
Last year, Lockbit also claimed it had stolen data from Taiwanese chip giant TSMC. But the company later refuted the incident, saying the hackers only gained access to a “test environment” from a third-party supplier.