GE, Philips and Fiserv investigate breach claims linked to Clop

Several prominent organisations, including General Electric (GE), Philips and Fiserv, are investigating potential data security breaches after the Clop ransomware group claimed to have exploited a critical vulnerability in PTC Windchill and FlexPLM to gain access to their internal systems and steal sensitive data.

 

Recently, the Clop ransomware group added 43 new victims to its data leak site. The victims were reportedly targeted through Internet-exposed PTC Windchill and FlexPLM systems, which were vulnerable to a critical flaw known as CVE-2026-12569.

 

PTC Windchill and FlexPLM are product lifecycle management (PLM) platforms that organisations use to manage product data, designs, documents, and development processes. The systems were reportedly targeted through a critical improper input validation vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-12569. The flaw can allow attackers to bypass security checks by sending specially crafted input. When these systems are exposed to the Internet, attackers could potentially exploit the vulnerability to gain unauthorised access or execute malicious code.

 

Electronics giant Philips has confirmed that it was targeted in a cyberattack, but said the incident was contained and did not have a significant impact on its operations or customer environment.

 

In a statement shared with Reuters, a company spokesperson said “Philips has identified and contained an attempted cybersecurity compromise of a specific enterprise server related to internal data.”

 

Fiserv, the global financial technology firm also identified by Clop as an alleged victim, said it was aware of the threat actor’s allegations. However, the company said its thorough investigation had uncovered no signs of any compromise involving customer, banking, transaction or personal information, nor any disruption to its operating systems.

 

A GE spokesperson also said the company was aware of the claim and had activated its cyber security response procedures while investigating and assessing the potential impact.

 

Oil and gas giant Shell also acknowledged the claims of the extortion group, and said, “We are aware of a potential incident. We are working with our security teams and relevant experts to investigate.”