Italian Celebs’ Data Exposed In Ransomware Attack On SIAE

The Italian data protection authority Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali (GPDP) has announced an investigation into a data breach of the country’s copyright protection agency.

Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori (SIAE) is a government agency responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of copyright holders’ creative works.

Yesterday, the GPDP announced that they are investigating whether hackers stole the personal data of registered members and employees of SIAE during a ransomware attack.

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“In relation to the data breach suffered by Siae, the Guarantor for the protection of personal data informs that it has opened an investigation.

The Italian Society of Authors and Publishers had yesterday notified the Authority, within the terms set by the privacy legislation, of the violation of its servers due to a hacker attack for extortion purposes.

The Guarantor is currently evaluating the information received from the Company, reserving the right to carry out the appropriate investigations.” – GPDP.

SIAE has not answered BleepingComputer’s emails asking for clarifications on the scale of the impact.

Data stolen during a ransomware attack

However, BleepingComputer has found a listing on the extortion portal of the Everest ransomware gang, where the actors claimed to have breached SIAE and have leaked 60 GB of stolen data.

The data leaked by the Everest gang includes national ID and driver’s license scans and documents relevant to contract agreements between SIAE and its members. 

The Everest gang claims that the stolen data contains contracts and other data related to Italian celebrities, actors, musicians, artists, authors, and reputable creators in general.

As SIAE is the sole royalties collector in Italy, every creator in the country has a registration on the compromised platform.

After not receiving a ransom payment, the threat actors are now selling the data for $500,000.

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What should SIAE members do?

If you are a registered member of the SIAE, stay vigilant against incoming unsolicited communications and scamming attempts.

If you receive any messages that seem like social engineering attacks, your best bet would be to report them to the police’s cybercrime department.

Finally, do not try to contact the crooks via an intermediary representative and meet their ransom demands, as there is no guarantee that your personal details won’t still be used.