DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Saudi Arabia's state oil giant acknowledged Wednesday that leaked data from the company — files now apparently being used in a cyber-extortion attempt involving a $50 million ransom demand - likely came from one of its contractors. The Saudi Arabian Oil Co., better known as Saudi Aramco, told The Associated Press that it « recently became aware of the indirect release of a limited amount of company data which was held by third-party contractors » The #oil firm did not say which contractor found itself affected nor whether that contractor had been hacked or if the information leaked out another way. « 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 » Aramco said. A page accessed by the AP on the darknet - a part of the internet hosted within an encrypted network and accessible only through specialized anonymity-providing tools - claimed the extortionist held 1,000 gigabytes worth of Aramco data. The global energy #industry has seen a ramp up in #cyber attacks with Colonial Pipeline becoming the most visible of late. #uae

https://apnews.com/article/technology-middle-east-business-religion-b449557e2db93e9e106cda6c085667e9