Apple supplier Foxconn has confirmed a cyberattack on several of its U.S. factories, after a ransomware group claimed to have stolen confidential Apple project files as part of the hack.
The Nitrogen group posted the breach on its data leak site this week, claiming to have made off with 8TB of data spanning more than 11 million files. Alongside the allegedly stolen Apple files, Nitrogen claims the trove includes internal project documentation and technical drawings tied to Intel, Google, Dell, and Nvidia.
Foxconn confirmed the intrusion to The Register on Tuesday, but the supplier did not respond to questions regarding whether any customer data was actually taken. A company spokesperson said its cybersecurity team activated response measures to keep production running, and that all of its affected factories are resuming normal operations.
Foxconn assembles a wide range of Apple products, but Apple famously takes the secrecy of unreleased products extremely seriously, and suppliers typically receive only the technical information needed for their specific role in manufacturing.
Nitrogen is believed to be an offshoot of leaked Russia-based Conti 2 ransomware code. If so, though, the stolen files may be inaccessible. Researchers at Coveware warned in February that a bug in the group's ESXi encryptor makes file recovery impossible, even for victims who pay up.
It's not the first time Foxconn has been targeted by ransomware gangs. The manufacturer was previously hit by LockBit in 2022 and 2024.
