According to recent news, French media LeMagIT reported that Hoya Corporation, a leading Japanese manufacturer of optical technology, recently suffered a ransomware attack, affecting the IT systems of its headquarters and multiple business units. Blackmailed for $10 million!

The cyberattack was carried out by a group called Hunters International, who reportedly stole 1.7 million documents. If US$10 million is not paid, its secrets including EUV mask blanks and photomasks (mask substrate and photomask) may be exposed.

The group was formed after the FBI teamed up with German and Dutch law enforcement to take down the notorious ransomware-as-a-service group Hive. Despite evidence pointing to a link between the two, Hunters International insists it has no connection with Hive.

As a condition of extortion, the attacker promises to unlock files encrypted by the ransomware only after receiving the ransom. As part of the deal, Hunters International promised not to release any of the 1.7 million files (2TB of data) it stole from Hoya. Hoya Corporation is a major player in the semiconductor industry and a leader in EUV lithography product development. As a result, its trade secrets may be particularly valuable to competitors or sanctioned countries.

Hunters International claims to have a non-negotiable, no-discount policy on its Hoya data transfers. Neither the ransomware group nor Hoya have released communications confirming the true nature of the "incident" affecting Hoya's servers. However, LeMagIT's screenshots purportedly taken from "Hunters International Infrastructure" are an apparent smoking gun.

Founded in 1941 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Tag Heuer is a renowned global supplier of medical technology and innovative high-tech products. Its business scope covers glasses, medical endoscopes, intraocular lenses and other fields. It also occupies an important position in the supply of key materials for semiconductor manufacturing, especially the production of EUV mask blanks and photomasks. TAG Heuer has approximately 160 offices and subsidiaries around the world, with approximately 36,000 employees.

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