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Canon reportedly targeted by ransomware cyberattack

Canon was reportedly hit by a ransomware attack that impacted emails, cloud photo and video storage, and other services. 

The attack resulted in 10TB of data stolen, according to Bleeping Computer. Customers who use Canon’s free 10GB storage feature may have been affected by this alleged attack. Canon’s email, Microsoft Teams, U.S. website, and other private databases were also reportedly affected. 

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A Canon spokesperson told Digital Trends the company was “currently investigating the situation.” An official announcement to customers about the incident says that data was lost, but declines to call it a cyberattack or that the data was leaked.

Canon EOS R5 product photo
Daven Mathies/Digital Trends

“We identified that some of the photo and video image files saved in the 10GB long-term storage prior to June 16, 2020, 9 a.m. (JST) were lost. We confirmed that the still image thumbnails of the affected files were not affected, and there was no leak of image data,” Canon said in their announcement “After having resolved the issue that resulted in the loss of the photo and video image files, we resumed the image.canon service as of August 4, 2020.”

There are still issues with the 10GB storage feature, and users will get an error message if they try to download or transfer a still image thumbnail file. Canon said it’s looking into fixing the problem. 

Bleeping Computer reports that Maze is responsible for the cyberattack and will publish the stolen data if they do not receive their ransom amount. Maze ransomware is responsible for past cyberattacks on LG, Xerox, Cognizant, and other high-profile companies. 

It’s the second major ransomware attack reported in the last week after Garmin was targeted by attackers who used the WastedLocker ransomware. Those attackers reportedly demanded $10 million. 

Allison Matyus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Allison Matyus is a general news reporter at Digital Trends. She covers any and all tech news, including issues around social…
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