Hyderabad Book Publisher Hit by Ransomware Attack, €20 Million Extortion Demanded

A book publishing house in Hyderabad has approached the city cybercrime police after its computer systems were compromised in a major ransomware attack, with unidentified hackers demanding a ransom of €20 million to release the encrypted data.

According to police officials, the company's employees first detected the unauthorised encryption of business data on the night of August 27. Upon accessing the compromised systems, staff found that the files were locked and a message was displayed demanding €20 million in exchange for the decryption keys.

The cyber attackers provided an email address for the company to initiate communication regarding payment terms and the release of the compromised data. The incident caused an immediate disruption to the publishing house's normal business operations.

To mitigate the impact of the attack, the company's technical staff relied on preserved backup data to restore the affected systems, allowing them to resume regular business functions.

Representatives of the publishing firm subsequently approached law enforcement authorities to seek formal action against the perpetrators. The Hyderabad cybercrime police have registered a case under relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act and Section 308 (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The organisation has submitted internal forensic analysis reports along with other relevant digital evidence to the investigators to assist in identifying the source of the breach. Police officials noted that several organisations have fallen prey to ransomware attacks in recent years, with many such extortion attempts originating from foreign countries.