<

Hacker group REvil claimed to have taken over 750 gigabytes of data and auctioned data about pop star Madona

According to a report from the BBC, a hacker group called REvil (or Sodinokibi) attacked the website of a law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, in New York. This is a company that represents celebrities like Madonna, and unfortunately, they are now auctioning off information about this pop star.

At press time, the company’s website is still displaying only the firm’s logo. The cybercriminals had released a screenshot allegedly containing Madonna’s contract. Other well-known clients of the firm include Rob Stewart, The Weeknd, U2, LeBron James, Mike Tyson, Robert De Niro, and Sony Corp.

revil-claimed-to-have-taken-over-750-gigabytes-of-data-and-auctioned-data-about-pop-star-madona

Hacking group REvil is auctioning data about the 61-year-old pop star Madona

Reportedly, REvil stole over 750 gigabytes of data, including contracts and personal emails. Moreover, these hackers vowed to switch from Bitcoin to Monero as the main payment method for the ransom.

A report from Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks states:

“We can confirm that a cyber-attack has victimized us. We have notified our clients and our staff. We have hired the world’s experts who specialize in this area, and we are working around the clock to address these matters.”

The auction comes with a few rules: the information will only go one way, the transaction will be kept confidential, the hackers will delete their copy of the data, and the buyer can do whatever they want with the data.

According to threat analyst at cyber-security company Emsisoft Brett Callow, the number of such ransomware attacks is increasing recently:

“Companies in this position have no good options available to them. Non-payment of the demand will result in the information being published; payment will simply get them a pinky promise from criminals that the stolen data will be deleted.”

Is it true that crypto attacks are overgrowing?

Although the report does not specify the exact amount or payment method required by the hacking group, such ransomware attacks are often followed by request to pay in cryptocurrency.

REvil is one of those notorious hacker groups. Earlier this year, the group attacked a London-based company called Travelex. The British company was hacked into a network by malware and later paid $ 2.3 million of Bitcoin to the perpetrators.

Shortly after that, the team announced a change to the main payment method from Bitcoin to Monero. By combining the latter with the anonymous browser Tor, REvil believes that law enforcement agencies will face more barriers when trying to track them down.

The team outlined that future victims will have to learn more about how Monero works, how they can buy it, and how to deliver it when it’s time. It will be interesting to track if their latest attack will result in a ransom paid by Monero.

Read more:

Follow us on Telegram

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on Facebook

You might also like

LATEST NEWS

LASTEST NEWS