K Club golf resort hit by ransomware attack just before Irish Open championship
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The prestigious K Club resort in County Kildare, Ireland, fell victim to a ransomware attack claimed out by the SafePay ransomware gang just days before hosting the Irish Open golf championship. The cyberattack resulted in significant disruption to the resort's IT infrastructure and led to the theft and leak of organizational data on the dark web.
Investigators believe the attackers gained access to the resort's IT network through a vulnerability in its virtual private network (VPN) system approximately one month prior to the tournament. The SafePay ransomware group then stole and encrypted large volumes of data before deploying. Some of the stolen data was uploaded to the darknet on Tuesday 2nd of September.
Exposed Data includes:
- Financial records and documentation
- IT system documentation and configurations
- Administrative information and internal records
The K Club has confirmed experiencing a "cyber-incident" affecting its IT infrastructure but declined to provide specific details about the attack or whether ransom payments were made to the attackers. The resort claims that no guest or client personal information was accessed during the incident.
The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has been formally notified of the incident and has opened an inquiry into the breach. The Irish police (Garda) became aware of the attack through their digital intelligence monitoring systems, which scans darknet platforms for threats against Irish organizations and state infrastructure.
