Vodafone investigating risk from hackers in the back of Samsung breach to leak supply code

An indication out of doors a Vodafone Staff Plc cell phone retailer in London, U.Okay., on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022.

Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures

Vodafone is investigating claims of an information breach made by means of hackers who’re threatening to leak the telecommunication massive’s supply code, the corporate advised CNBC.

On Monday, a bunch referred to as Lapsus$ requested their subscribers in a ballot on messaging app Telegram: “What will have to we leak subsequent?” adopted by means of 3 choices.

The primary choice is round 200 gigabytes value of Vodafone supply code. The ballot ends on March 13.

The opposite two choices are the supply code and databases of Portuguese media company Impresa and the supply code for MercadoLibre and MercadoPago, each Argentinian e-commerce corporations.

On the time of e-newsletter, Vodafone had 56% of the vote.

A Vodafone spokesperson advised CNBC the corporate is conscious about the claims being made by means of Lapsus$.

“We’re investigating the declare along with regulation enforcement, and at this level we can not remark at the credibility of the declare. On the other hand, what we will say is that normally the forms of repositories referenced within the declare comprise proprietary supply code and don’t comprise buyer information,” the spokesperson stated.

MercardoLibre and MercadoPago, didn’t reply to CNBC’s request for remark. Impresa’s web pages had been down and no touch data used to be to be had to achieve out to the corporate.

Lapsus$ remaining week claimed accountability for an information breach of South Korean electronics massive Samsung during which the hacking team got supply codes of Galaxy-branded units like smartphones. Samsung stated the knowledge breach on Monday. Lapsus$ additionally claimed accountability for an information breach of chip massive Nvidia remaining month.

Vodafone has been a goal for hackers. In February, the corporate’s Portuguese unit used to be hit with a cyberattack that disrupted its services and products. Vodafone stated on the time that consumers’ private information had no longer been compromised.