Qilin Ransomware Attack on Pharmaceutical Research Giant Inotiv

U.S.-based major pharmaceutical research company Inotiv has announced that threat actors infiltrated their networks and compromised highly critical and personal data belonging to approximately 10,000 individuals. This massive data breach, which occurred last August and brought the company's daily operations to a standstill, was disclosed to the public through official notifications in December.

The attack was claimed by the "Qilin" group, one of the most dangerous ransomware gangs of recent times, which previously crippled healthcare systems in the UK, causing months of blood shortages. The threat actors exfiltrated exactly 176 GB of data, including social security numbers, driver's license details, bank card PINs, and detailed health insurance records of current and former employees.

The Qilin group initially exposed the company on the dark web, but later removed Inotiv's name from its data leak site. This move strengthens the possibility that the company yielded to the extortion and secretly paid the ransom. Meanwhile, the company is attempting to mitigate the damage by offering victims 24 months of complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services.

Some of the precautions we need to take to protect against these types of attacks include:

• Do not open emails from untrusted sources.

• Use multi-factor authentication (MFA).

• Keep your system updated to the latest version at all times.

• Monitor login logs regularly.

• Track the security of mobile devices.

  
  

  For detailed information, you can reach out to our experts at info@zerosecond.ae