Vodafone investigates threats from hackers behind Samsung breach to leak source code

March 11, 2022: -Vodafone is investigating claims of a data breach made by hackers who threatened to leak the telecommunication giant’s source code, the company told CNBC.

On Monday, a group known as Lapsus$ asked their subscribers in a poll on messaging app Telegram, “What should we leak next?” followed by three options.

The first option is nearly 200 gigabytes worth of Vodafone source code. The poll is ending on March 13.

The two different options are the source code and databases of Portuguese media corporation Impresa and the source code for MercadoLibre and MercadoPago, both Argentinian e-commerce companies. At the time of publication, Vodafone had 56% of the vote.

“We investigate the claim together with law enforcement, and at this point, we cannot say on the credibility of the claim. AlthoughAlthough, what we can say is that generally, the types of repositories referenced in the claim contain proprietary source code and do not contain customer data,” the spokesperson said.

MercardoLibre and MercadoPago did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment. Impresa’s websites were down, and no contact information was available to reach out to the company.

In the previous week, Lapsus$ claimed responsibility for a data breach of South Korean electronics giant Samsung in which the hacking group obtained source codes of Galaxy-branded devices like smartphones. Samsung acknowledged the data breach on Monday. Last month, Lapsus$ also claimed responsibility for a data breach of chip giant Nvidia.

Vodafone has been a target for hackers. In February, its Portuguese unit was hit with a cyberattack that disrupted its services. Vodafone said at the time that customers’ data had not been compromised.