Despite tens of millions of revenue, a $230,000 ransomware fee has seemingly taken out one of Germany’s leading insurance firms.
As reported by Wa.de and Golem.de (via our friends at Tom’s Hardware), Einhaus Group was originally targeted back in 2023. Hacking group Royal reportedly told Einhaus Group founder Wilhelm Einhaus, “We’ve hacked you. All further information can be found on the dark web.”
After the hack, no computers or servers could boot, and all systems had been encrypted, including access to contracts, billing, and any stored communication. Royal reportedly asked for €200,000 (around $230,000) to get back access to the company’s computers.
The $230,000 was to be deposited in Bitcoin. Though Bitcoin is traceable, as are all currencies on the blockchain, hackers like it because of its high value and the fact that you can anonymously make wallets. The money can then be dispersed among wallets, cashed out in other areas, and effectively disappear.
According to Wa, Einhaus operated with 170 employees and made a revenue of 70 million euros at its peak. After paying the ransom, Einhaus had to downsize from 170 employees to just eight. This isn’t just because of the fee, as Einhaus “estimates the damage to be in the mid-seven-figure range”, according to Wa. Insurance settlements couldn’t be processed for months, losing out on day-to-day operations during this time, and claims processing swapped from digital to manual over that time.
The hacking group also claims to have published 11% of the company’s data on a dark web portal.
Further investigation into the group began with the hacking of Einhaus Group. Three suspects have reportedly been caught, and cryptocurrencies were allegedly seized in relation to the hack. However, the money has reportedly not yet been given back to Einhaus Group, and Einhaus claims, “The fact that we, as proven victims, have not received the extorted funds back, even though they have been confiscated, has derailed our restructuring efforts.”
By 2024, Einhaus Group sold the property the company was based on, and insolvency procedures began in the last few weeks. As reported by Wa, “Wilhelm Einhaus (72), self-employed for 53 years, does not intend to retire but plans to start afresh.” That’s a pretty monumental climb for the 72-year-old businessman.
A major US food retailer recently saw 2.2 million people’s data exposed in ransomware attacks, and a single guessed password put a 158-year-old company out of business in a cyberattack. As ever, cybersecurity is incredibly important for any business.
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