Hackers demanded $ 50 million in BTC from pharmaceutical company Pierre Fabre

Pierre Fabre, a large French pharmaceutical company, was attacked by the REvil ransomware virus, and most production was stopped. Hackers demand $ 50 million in bitcoins to decrypt data.

Pierre Fabre is the second largest pharmacological group in France and the second largest dermocosmetology group in the world. The company employs over 10,000 people.

A cyberattack on Pierre Fabre’s IT infrastructure was carried out on March 31, but a day later, the company’s system administrators managed to regain control over the situation. However, in order to limit the spread of the REvil virus, they had to suspend or completely shut down most of their systems.

“As a precautionary measure and in accordance with a risk management plan, the group’s information systems were immediately frozen to limit the spread of the virus. This has led to the temporary halt of most production, with the exception of the Gaillac plant, which produces active ingredients for pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, ”the company said in a press release.

However, the press release does not provide any details. However, Bleeping Computer journalists contacted the REvil group and confirmed that Pierre Fabre’s systems were encrypted. Initially, the hackers demanded $ 25 million in bitcoins for decrypting files, but then the ransom amount was increased to $ 50 million. However, so far there has been no payment and, quite possibly, the French company is not going to follow the cybercriminals’ lead.

Recently it was reported that a new Cring ransomware virus has emerged, which operators exploit a vulnerability in older versions of Fortinet VPN gateways.