Digital transformation giant Orion Innovation hit by LockBit ransomware, hacker group claims

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Digital transformation company Orion Innovation has reportedly been hit by a ransomware attack by the LockBit group.

The leading ransomware gang claimed an attack on the company on Tuesday, adding it to a list of victims on its deep web-based leak site.

It's currently unclear how much data LockBit is claiming to have stolen from Orion Innovation, but the US-based firm has been given a deadline of 1 September to pay the ransom.

LockBit is one of the most pervasive ransomware gangs in operation, and frequently deploys a double extortion model whereby a victim’s data is stolen before the ransomware program is executed, locking the business out of their computers.

The data is then held by the hackers after the devices are encrypted to provide an added incentive to pay the ransom. If a ransom isn’t paid, LockBit then publishes the data that has been stolen, which often includes sensitive information on the company’s employees and clients.

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Orion Innovation is a multiple Emmy Award-winning company, noted for its work in building solutions to collect TV viewer data, among other work.

It also has a star-studded Fortune 1,000 client list, having worked with the likes of Major League Baseball, AT&T, Bank of America, Chase, Red Hat, Cisco, and IBM.

The company is headquartered in New Jersey but has offices across the globe, including the UK, Russia, Israel, India, Australia, and Germany.

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IT Pro has contacted Orion Innovation for confirmation of the reports.

Since publishing the data it stole from cyber security company Entrust last week, LockBit has claimed attacks on eight additional organisations, including Orion Innovation, despite battling an ongoing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

The latest victims include a number of law firms, a substance abuse and mental health service, and a construction company.

LockBit has also been accused of attacking a French hospital located near Paris, holding it to ransom for $10 million, although the company has not been listed on the group's dark web page.

The Center Hospitalier Sud Francilien (CHSF) confirmed the 21 August attack and was also reportedly forced to turn patients away as a result of the disruption caused by the attack.

Connor Jones
News and Analysis Editor

Connor Jones has been at the forefront of global cyber security news coverage for the past few years, breaking developments on major stories such as LockBit’s ransomware attack on Royal Mail International, and many others. He has also made sporadic appearances on the ITPro Podcast discussing topics from home desk setups all the way to hacking systems using prosthetic limbs. He has a master’s degree in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield, and has previously written for the likes of Red Bull Esports and UNILAD tech during his career that started in 2015.