Aramco faces $50-mn extortion bid over data leak, but denies breach

Saudi Aramco confirmed that some company files were leaked after hackers reportedly demanded a $50 million ransom from the world’s most-valuable oil producer.

“Aramco recently became aware of the indirect release of a limited amount of company data which was held by third-party contractors,” the Middle Eastern oil major said Wednesday in an email. “We confirm that the release of data was not due to a breach of our systems, has no impact on our operations, and the company continues to maintain a robust cybersecurity posture.”

The Associated Press reported earlier that 1 terabyte of Saudi Arab­ian Oil Co data had been held by an extortionist, citing a web page it had accessed on the darknet. The state-owned driller was offered the chance to have the data deleted for $50 million in cryptocurrency, the AP said.