Switzerland-based helicopter maker Kopter was hit by a ransomware attack after hackers broke into the company's internal network, ZDNet reported on Saturday.

The hackers also encrypted the company's files and published some of them on the Internet on Friday after Kopter refused to engage with the cybercriminals, said the report.

A blog operated by the ransomware gang LockBit published the files which include various aerospace and defense industry standards, besides documents related to the company's business and internal projects.

The blog is hosted on the dark web. Kopter has not yet publicly disclosed details about the ransomware attack.

But the operators of the LockBit ransomware claimed that they breached Kopter's network last week, according to the ZDNet report.

The hackers claimed that they broke into the company's network by taking advantage of weak password used by a VPN appliance. The report comes at a time when ransomware attacks have remained a persistent problem amid the pandemic.

Ransomware gangs are reportedly now using new tactics like cold-calling to pressurise victims to make payments if the targeted organisations attempt restoration from backups.

In this case, the ransomeware group appears to be trying to pressurise the victim by leaking some files on the Internet.

Italian aerospace and defense company Leonardo announced earlier this year that it acquired Kopter for an undisclosed sum.

*Edited from an IANS report