The speed at which they breach and exfiltrate data from company systems can overwhelm security response teams, and they have left threatening notes for staff of victim organizations on their systems, and contacted them by text and email in the past, Mandiant found. They're extremely good at what they do and 'ruthless' in their interactions with victims, said Kevin Mandia, Mandiant's founder. Reuters was not able to determine how much money the hackers may have extorted.īut it's not just the scale or the breadth of attacks that make this group stand out. Nearly every industry, from telecommunications to finance, hospitality, and media, has been hit.
