What Happened to Accenture?

The analysis by Umberto Rapetto, director of Infosec.news by Umberto Rapetto

It is difficult to comment on the misfortunes, but in the end even those who deal with technologies transform themselves into "pain chroniclers" and shamelessly speculate on the dramatic misadventures that dot the digital scenario. Still in front of the eyes of the corpse of the computer systems of the Lazio Region that does not want to resurrect in spite of complacent experts and politicians in the hands of ventriloquists, we are forced to jump to discover that to end up being a victim of hackers is one of the leading realities in the cybersecurity sector.

It fell to Accenture, the large company that writes on its website “We create cybersecurity solutions tailored to the specific business needs of customers. We defend them from cyberattacks thanks to a proactive threat intelligence, focused and specific to the market sector, thus instilling the confidence necessary to grow their business in a safe way ". What ends up is the reality that advertises its initiatives recalling - about the "Hackademy" opened with the Federico II University of Naples - "A training in cybersecurity opens every door". In this circumstance, however, there is the fear that some self-taught people have also thrown open doors and windows. The LockBit ransomware gang probably did not pass the school desks and, on the contrary, preferred to demonstrate that the words "hacker" and "hacking" should not be the subject of commercial speculation because their use risks having a negative impact on those who use them. "sacrilegious". A post in the portal that this clique has on the dark web made it clear that the void, left by the vacation period that DarkSide and REvil took, was quickly filled and moreover with a really big blow. Thus began the usual countdown which cyber pirates seem particularly fond of. The countdown can only be interrupted by the payment in bitcoin or other cryptocurrency of the sum established as a ransom: if the payment does not take place, the disclosure of what was stolen is triggered. Yep, because it is the criminals themselves who point out that the files were first "stolen" and then their original stored on Accenture systems was illegally encrypted. Unlike what happened to President Zingaretti's team, Accenture ensured that it promptly restored its systems using adequate backups that were unharmed in the collision with the LockBit pirate vessel. The problem, however, remains, because there is the risk of publishing archives and data and perhaps the danger of selling confidential information that is more attractive to the competition and to criminals. At this point it is inevitable to ask what Accenture's electronic coffers contained: does the "treasure" by any chance include some little thing that actually belongs to its customers? And if so, what? It must be said that - although presumably in the opposite direction to the promotional intention - Accenture has fully embodied its slogan "Become a protagonist of cybersecurity". On the other hand, the consulting cyclops was right: "Cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated" ... RAPET GENERAL ARTICLE