UK communications regulator Ofcom hacked with a MOVEit file transfer zero-day

UK communications regulator Ofcom suffered a data breach after a Clop ransomware attack exploiting the MOVEit file transfer zero-day.

UK’s communications regulator Ofcom disclosed a data breach after a Clop ransomware attack. The threat actors exploited the zero-day flaw (CVE-2023-34362,) in MOVEit file transfer and access the infrastructure of the regulator.

A spokesperson for Ofcom told The Record that the ransomware group had access confidential information which the regulator held on companies it regulates.

“A limited amount of information about certain companies we regulate – some of it confidential – along with personal data of 412 Ofcom employees, was downloaded during the attack,” the spokesperson told The Record. “We took immediate action to prevent further use of the MOVEit service and to implement the recommended security measures. We also swiftly alerted all affected Ofcom-regulated companies, and we continue to offer support and assistance to our colleagues.”

MOVEit Transfer is a managed file transfer that is used by enterprises to securely transfer files using SFTP, SCP, and HTTP-based uploads

The vulnerability is a SQL injection vulnerability, it can be exploited by an unauthenticated attacker to gain unauthorized access to MOVEit Transfer’s database. The vulnerability affects all MOVEit Transfer versions, it doesn’t affect the cloud version of the product.

The Clop ransomware gang (aka Lace Tempest) was credited by Microsoft for the recent campaign that exploits the zero-day vulnerability CVE-2023-34362.

On Wednesday, the Clop ransomware gang published an extortion note on its dark web leak site claiming to have information on hundreds of businesses.

By May 31, Rapid7 experts discovered approximately 2,500 instances of MOVEit Transfer publicly accessible on the internet, with a significant portion located in the United States.

At this time the number of installs located in the UK is 127.

Recently another data breach made the headlines, the hack of the payroll services provider Zellis.

The instance of MOVEit Transfer managed by the payroll processor Zellis was used by the company to exchange files with tens of companies, this means that the number of impacted firms could be significant.

As a result of the cyber attack on the payroll provider Zellis, the personal data of employees at the BBC and British Airways has been compromised and exposed.

One of Zellis’s customers, the British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain Boots also confirmed to have been impacted by the attack. Another firm impacted by the data breach is the airline Aer Lingus which confirmed that “some of our current and former employee data” has been disclosed.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, data breach)