Musk’s 3,000 rocket designs may land on grey market for highest bidders as hackers attack SpaceX

In what appears as a scene straight out of a Hollywood flick, a ransomware gang attacked Elon Musk’s SpaceX only to make good with almost 3,000 rocket designs, threatening to sell them to rivals. Earlier this week, the notorious LockBit ransomware gang called out billionaire Musk, threatening to sell off the ‘certified’ drawings that they stole during a major data breach. LockBit group ‘hacks’ SpaceX “I would say we were fortunate if SpaceX workers were more chatty,” LockBit said in a message posted on their web page on the dark web. “However, I believe that this material will find a customer as quickly as possible,” read the note. The note also had another message. It read, “Elon Musk, we will assist you in selling your drawings to other makers so that you can construct the spacecraft quicker and fly away.” **Also read: SpaceX may attempt Starship launch in March, says Elon Musk** “Now for the numbers: approximately 3,000 drawings verified by SpaceX experts. The sale will begin in a week. ALL DATA AVAILABLE WILL BE PUBLISHED!’ the note added.” A live countdown is also shown on the website where the note was posted, which gives SpaceX three days’ time, as of writing this article, to pay the secret amount to the ransomware organisation.   That means, if Musk and his team aren’t able to sort this problem out by March 20, SpaceX’s designs will either be sold to his rivals or will be put up on the internet for everyone to see. The leak happened through a contractor Below the message are three ‘confidential’ papers that were supposedly stolen from Maximum Industries, a SpaceX contractor.   This included the construction of a vacuum engine, a non-disclosure deal between SpaceX and Maximum Industries, and Starship kits. Who are LockBit? According to the US Department of Justice, LockBit first emerged at the beginning of 2020 and has since earned at least $100 million from ransom victims globally. Since March 2020, the FBI has been examining the organisation and thinks there have been up to 1,000 victims worldwide. **Also read: Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Tesla and 31 other companies' internal systems were discovered with security vulnerability** Law enforcement authorities first came to know of LockBit when a 33-year-old man from Ontario, Canada, was arrested and set to be extradited to the United States for his role in a hacking and ransomware operation.   Following the extradition, the FBI shutdown multiple cells of the ransomware gang in various parts of the US. ‘Let this be yet another caution to ransomware actors: working with allies around the globe, the Department of Justice will continue to disrupt cyber threats and hold offenders accountable,’ said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco of the Justice Department in November, after a major bust of one of LockBit’s cells. ‘With our allies, we will use every possible weapon to disrupt, discourage, and punish computer criminals.’ LockBit’s assaults have not been confined to the aerospace sector, with cheese producer Bonta Viva and real estate Radium Life Technology also facing attacks in the past. In January this year, the UK’s  Royal Mail was also attacked and faced a demand of £66 million from LockBit. However calling their threat ‘absurd’, the Royal Mail shut the threat down by ignoring it.   Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.