Revil ransomware has attacked computer company Acer, and the threat actors are requesting the $50,000,000,000 ransom, which is the highest known ransom to date.

Acer is a well-known Taiwanese manufacturer of computers, electronics, and monitors. About 7,000 people work for Acer, which had revenue of $7.8 billion in 2019.

The ransomware gang said yesterday that they have infiltrated Acer and posted some screenshots of purportedly stolen files as evidence on their data leak website.

These documents, which contain financial spreadsheets, bank balances, and bank correspondence, were exposed through the use of leaked photos.

In response to BleepingComputer’s queries, Acer said that they “reported recent odd situations” to pertinent LEAs and DPAs but did not give a clear statement as to whether they had been the victim of a REvil ransomware assault.

Below is a link to their full response:

“Acer regularly checks its IT infrastructure, and the majority of hacks are successfully thwarted. Companies like ours are frequently targeted, and we have recently witnessed strange circumstances that we have notified to the appropriate law enforcement and data protection agencies in several different countries.”

“To ensure company continuity and information integrity, we have been steadily improving our cybersecurity infrastructure. We strongly advise all businesses and organisations to follow cyber security best practises and guidelines and to keep an eye out for any unusual network behaviour.” – Acer.

Acer responded to queries for additional information by saying “there is an ongoing investigation and for the sake of security, we are unable to comment on details.”

Known highest ransom demand
Following the release of our article, LegMagIT’s Valery Marchive found the REvil ransomware sample that was utilised in the Acer assault and demanded a huge $50 million ransom.

Soon after, BleepingComputer discovered the sample and is able to corroborate that it is from the onslaught on Acer based on the ransom message and the victim’s chat with the attackers.

Beginning on March 14th, the victim began speaking with REvil, who displayed disbelief at the victim’s enormous $50 million demand.

The REvil representative offered a link to the Acer data leak page later on in the chat, which was still under wraps at the moment.

A 20% discount was also provided by the assailants if payment was completed by this past Wednesday. The ransomware group would deliver a decryptor, a vulnerability report, and the destruction of the files they had stolen in exchange.

The REvil operation once issued a mysterious warning to Acer, telling them “not not repeat the fate of the SolarWind.”

The previous greatest known ransom was the $30 million extortion from the Dairy Farm cyberattack, which was also perpetrated by REvil. REvil’s 50 million demand is the largest known ransom to date.

Possibly exploited Microsoft Exchange
According to Vitali Kremez of BleepingComputer, the Revil gang recently targeted a Microsoft Exchange server on the Acer domain, which Advanced Intel’s Andariel cyberintelligence technology was able to identify.

Kremez told BleepingComputer that “Advanced Intel’s Andariel cyberintelligence technology noticed that one specific REvil affiliate pursued Microsoft Exchange weaponization.”

Although they are a smaller operation with fewer victims, the threat actors behind the DearCry ransomware have already deployed their ransomware via the ProxyLogon vulnerability.

If the current Microsoft Exchange flaws were utilised by REvil to steal data or encrypt devices, it would mark the first time one of the ransomware operations that targets large-scale threats used this kind of attack.