Excis

Excis is an international information technology firm whose headquarters are located in the United Kingdom. The organisation delivers IT services to clients across multiple countries, operating within the global technology sector. While the specific range of products and solutions offered by Excis is not detailed in the available sources, its description as an international IT firm implies a breadth of service that extends beyond a single national market. The company's positioning suggests it competes in a landscape where firms provide infrastructure, support, and consulting to a diverse clientele. Its UK base situates it within a region known for a strong technology industry and a concentration of skilled professionals.

In May 2020, Excis became the target of a ransomware attack carried out by the Sekhmet group, an incident that was publicly reported on a data breach news site. The attackers claimed to have caused significant impact on the firm’s operations and criticised the professionalism of Excis’s IT management. As part of their extortion tactic, Sekhmet leaked partial data archives from the company’s systems, withholding passwords until a ransom was paid. The threat actors also warned that they would contact Excis’s clients to expose any unprotected data remaining on the firm’s servers. This sequence of events highlights the attackers’ strategy of combining data leakage with reputational pressure to compel payment.

The Sekhmet incident underscores the broader cybersecurity challenges faced by international IT service providers, particularly those that manage substantial volumes of client and operational data. Such attacks often reveal gaps in defensive measures, incident response readiness, and data protection practices that can be exploited by sophisticated threat actors. For organisations like Excis, the event serves as a reminder of the importance of robust security frameworks, regular vulnerability assessments, and effective communication plans during a breach. While the attack brought unwanted attention to the firm, it also contributed to the growing awareness of ransomware threats within the IT services industry. The episode remains a documented example of how cyber extortion can affect companies with a global footprint, reinforcing the need for continual improvement in cyber resilience.