US realty trust giant Brandywine says data stolen in ransomware attack — some systems shut down while investigation into stolen data continues

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Brandywine Realty Trust has confirmed suffering a ransomware attack earlier this month, which resulted in the theft of corporate data and the disruption of some parts of its infrastructure.

In an 8-K form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 1, the company said it had detected “what was determined to be a cybersecurity incident.”

Explaining what had happened, Brandywine said an unauthorized third party gained access to portions of its IT environment and deployed encryption. As soon as it spotted the attack, the company activated its incident response plan, which included shutting down some parts of its systems, bringing in external cybersecurity experts to help with the investigation and the forensics, and notifying relevant authorities.

Resuming operations

As a result of the attack and the company’s incident response activities, portions of Brandywine’s business applications were disrupted, and access limited. However, the company believes it successfully contained the attack and that it will not escalate further.

While they were present on the network, the attackers managed to steal some files from the company, although Brandywine does not yet know what they took. Investigation is currently underway, and if the results show the theft of personal information, relevant individuals will be notified, it said.

“As the investigation of the incident is ongoing, the full scope, nature and impact of the incident are not yet known. The Company’s real estate operations have continued throughout this matter in all material respects and, as of the date of this filing, the incident has not otherwise had a material impact on the Company’s operations,” the filing concludes.

Brandywine believes the incident won’t have a material impact.

So far, no threat actors have assumed responsibility for the attack. Usually, when attackers steal sensitive data, they publish small samples online and try to pressure the victim into paying a ransom in exchange for keeping the data private.

Via TechCrunch