2022 Continental AG — cyber intrusion & data theft; LockBit 3.0 extortion claims (automotive supplier)
Data compromised
Board/strategy documentation and automotive-customer project material cited in press—scope not standardized into a public natural-person count
Technical writeup
German automotive supplier Continental AG disclosed detecting and containing a cyberattack in early August 2022 affecting parts of its IT landscape, later acknowledging significant data exfiltration as investigations matured. LockBit 3.0 affiliates claimed the hack and threatened publication of tens of terabytes allegedly spanning strategy and OEM-partner–sensitive material; Reuters and sector outlets documented $50M-scale asking prices in criminal markets and law-enforcement interest. Treat granular field inventories as gang-marketing unless independently verified.
Root cause
Criminal intrusion with theft of sensitive corporate data followed by ransomware-brand extortion (LockBit claims)