Evolution Mining Limited, one of the world's biggest gold mining operators, has suffered a significant ransomware attack, the company has confirmed.
In a press release, the company said it became aware of the ransomware attack on August 8, 2024. Following the discovery, it brought in external forensic experts to investigate the incident.
At the time the press release was published on August 12, Evolution said the attack was fully contained.
No material impact
Given that its operations were seemingly intact, the unnamed attackers either didn’t properly encrypt sensitive files, or didn’t have access to production-critical workstations to begin with. It was left unclear if the crooks even managed to steal any sensitive files from the target systems, or not.
“The Company does not anticipate any material impact on operations,” the company said in its press release, adding that it reported the attack to the Australian Cyber Security Centre. At press time, no ransomware groups had taken responsibility for the attack.
Evolution is an Australian gold mining company that operates multiple mines across Australia and Canada. It was founded in 2011 and is currently one of the larger gold producers in the world, owning and operating key assets such as the Cowal gold operation in New South Wales, the Mungari gold operation in Western Australia, and the Red Lake operation in Ontario, Canada.
BleepingComputer reports the company has more than 280,000 kilograms of gold in its ore reserves, which gives it a strong market capitalization position. As a result, it is one of the top firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
In June 2024, another large Australian mining company - Northern Minerals - also suffered a data breach incident carried out by BianLian, a Chinese threat actor that pivoted from ransomware into data theft only.
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