Pendragon is latest held to ransom
24 October 2022
Pendragon is refusing to pay a $60m (£54m) ransom from dark web hackers, despite a threat to leak sensitive information.
The auto retail group, which is currently the subject of a takeover bid, told The Times it had been undergoing a cyberattack for a month “by a gang connected to a sophisticated group known as LockBit 3.0”. It says it is in daily contact with the gang, which has provided proof of the data breach.
“We refuse to be held hostage by this group and we will not be paying the ransom demand,” said CMO Kim Costello.
The firm says only 5% of its database had been breached before security experts protected the system. It has notified OEM partners and staff, and cyber law enforcement agencies have been alerted.
In August, Holdcroft suffered a ransomware attack which saw some systems and files permanently deleted and employee data possibly compromised. In April, TrustFord was hit by a serious cyberattack while, in March, a group of LSH Auto employees began legal proceedings against the firm for not being told about a major data breach.
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