Professional services company Cognizant has fallen victim to a cyber-attack which appears to have been the work of the Maze ransomware operators.
Headquartered in New Jersey, United States, the multinational corporation delivers digital, technology, consulting, and operations services to customers worldwide. With roughly 300,000 employees around the world, Cognizant ranked 193 on the Fortune 500 list in 2019.
On Friday, the IT services giant confirmed that it fell victim to a cyber-attack that resulted in service disruption for some customers.
“Cognizant can confirm that a security incident involving our internal systems, and causing service disruptions for some of our clients, is the result of a Maze ransomware attack,” the company said.
The company did not provide information on how many systems were affected, but said it was working on containing the incident.
“We are in ongoing communication with our clients and have provided them with Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) and other technical information of a defensive nature,” Cognizant revealed.
The IT giant also said it has contacted the appropriate law enforcement authorities about the incident.
While no information on how the attackers managed to compromise the company’s network is available, chances are that they had a foothold on Cognizant’s internal systems for weeks, in line with Maze ransomware operators’ modus operandi, Bleeping Computer says.
Moreover, it is likely that the attackers were able to steal files before encrypting them, and that they would threaten the IT giant with making the data public unless a ransom is paid.
Maze operators have a history of releasing the stolen data and other ransomware operators have adopted the tactic, as it allows them to boost revenue.
Related: Human-Operated Ransomware Is a Growing Threat to Businesses: Microsoft
Related: Maze Ransomware Operators Publish Victim Data Online
Related: Double Extortion: Ransomware’s New Normal Combining Encryption with Data Theft
