Industrial de Alimentos EYL SA listed on RansomHub leak site

• Ransomware group: RansomHub
• Country: Honduras
• Sector: Agriculture and Food Production
• Announcement date: March 21, 2024

RansomHub claims data exfiltration from Industrial de Alimentos EYL SA

The ransomware group known as RansomHub has officially listed the Honduran organization Industrial de Alimentos EYL SA on its leak site. According to the announcement made on March 21, 2024, the threat actors claim to have successfully conducted a data breach against the company, asserting that they have exfiltrated a significant amount of sensitive information. The group has stated that they obtained 17 GB of data during their operation and has threatened to leak the files if their demands are not met.

Ransomware attacks often involve a tactic known as double extortion. In this scenario, attackers do not merely encrypt a victim's systems to disrupt operations; they also steal sensitive data before the encryption process begins. By threatening to release this stolen information on public leak sites, the attackers create immense pressure on the organization, leveraging the threat of regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and the loss of intellectual property to coerce the victim into paying a ransom.

Details of the claimed breach

The claim made by RansomHub suggests a deep level of access into the internal systems of Industrial de Alimentos EYL SA. The group asserts that they have accessed documents belonging to several critical departments within the organization, including finance, human resources, and IT. Furthermore, the threat actors claim to have successfully accessed databases from the company's SAP system, which often contains vital business logic and operational data.

The specific types of data mentioned in the announcement include:

• Financial documents
• Human resources data
• IT system files
• SAP database records
• Supplier recipes

The inclusion of supplier recipes in the claimed stolen data highlights the potential impact on the company's proprietary information and competitive advantage. While the ransom demand amount has not been disclosed, the threat to leak the entirety of the 17 GB dataset remains a central part of the group's extortion strategy.

The target organization

Industrial de Alimentos EYL SA is a food production and agriculture company based in Honduras. The company operates in the field of food processing and the production of agricultural products, making it a key player in its regional sector.

Analysis and potential impact

This incident poses significant risks to the operational continuity and the protection of trade secrets for Industrial de Alimentos EYL SA. The exposure of SAP data and sensitive supplier information could lead to secondary risks within the company's supply chain, potentially affecting partners and distributors who rely on secure data exchange with the organization. Furthermore, the disclosure of employee and supplier data could facilitate identity theft and targeted phishing attacks against individuals associated with the company.

RansomHub is a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) group that emerged in early 2024. Reports suggest that the group has attracted affiliates from the former ALPHV group, which indicates that the technical complexity of their attacks may be significant. This level of sophistication often requires organizations to maintain highly robust defensive postures, including multi-factor authentication, regular offline backups, and strict network segmentation.

Given the company's location in Honduras, the breach may also impact compliance with local data protection regulations. For organizations in the agriculture and food production sector, protecting intellectual property such as recipes and supplier lists is critical to maintaining market position. To mitigate such risks, companies often implement comprehensive monitoring of data exfiltration and conduct regular security audits of their ERP systems, such as SAP, to ensure that sensitive databases are not accessible to unauthorized users.