Medusa Ransomware claims credit for NASCAR hack, offers massive ransom

NASCAR had had various issues with technology being interfered with this season, and it appears it could be happening again. A report surfaced Tuesday indicating a hacking group had targeted the racing organization.

Hackread.com reports that the Medusa ransomware group claims it has hacked NASCAR and is demanding a $4 million ransom. Accompanying the demand is a threat to release internal data if payment isn’t made.

The veracity of these claims could not be confirmed by On3. However, Hackread.com includes a lengthy explanation of the alleged hack.

Medusa has reportedly leaked a few dozen document images, purportedly from NASCAR and its operations, as evidence of its hack into the organization. Among the pertinent information in the documents released are “detailed maps of raceway grounds, email addresses, names and titles of staff, and credential-related info.”

Hackread.com notes that “suggests a real compromise of operational and logistical data.” The Daily Dot joined Hackread.com in reporting Medusa’s demands, noting that a countdown timer seemed to show NASCAR had 10 days to pay the ransom or risk more than a terabyte of data being released.

This is not the first reported cyber-related issue NASCAR has faced this season. There have been at least two other hacking-related incidents, though both were relatively minor.

NASCAR radio, social media accounts hacked

The first incident this season happened during a NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta. In that instance, a fan cut into the race’s official radio and could be heard shouting various things.

The gist of it appeared to be a plea for NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer not to mess with Kyle Larson. You can read more here.

The second incident came via social media. The NASCAR Twitter account was seemingly hacked, with the brief takeover taking the opportunity to push a crypto coin.

That hack happened at the same time as the NBA’s social media account faced a similar issue. The posts were quickly deleted from both organization’s accounts, and security appeared to be restored in short order.

In any case, one can only hope that the latest reported cyber-incident is nonsense. NASCAR has yet to comment on the issue.