Tag Archives: Extortion
Tesla worked with the FBI to block a million dollar ransomware attack
Extortionists threaten sites with bad traffic to make Google ban ads
A creative extortion scheme is threatening websites with revenue loss by unleashing bad traffic that activates Google's AdSense anti-fraud systems, according to Krebs on Security. First, a fraudster threatens to flood the publisher's site with sketch...
YouTube sues user who extorted others through fake takedown requests
A lawsuit filed by YouTube yesterday claims that a user abused its copyright infringement reporting system to extort fellow YouTubers and carry out a swatting attack. YouTube alleges that Christopher Brady, of Omaha, Nebraska, filed dozens of Digital...
Hackers claim to have insurance data linked to 9/11 attacks
The hackers who stole Orange is the New Black are back, and they've hit a new low. The group known as TheDarkOverlord claims to have stolen 18,000 documents from Hiscox Syndicates, Lloyds of London and Silverstein Properties, and threatened to relea...
US charges Iranian hackers over $30 million ransomware spree
The US is attempting to hold the creators of the infamous SamSam ransomware to account. A federal grand jury has revealed indictments against two Iranian men, Mohammad Mansouri and Faramarz Savandi, for allegedly authoring and wielding SamSam to ext...
Four men linked to Mugshots.com have been charged with extortion
Four men allegedly behind the website Mugshots.com have been arrested and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced charges of extortion, money laundering and identity theft. The website mines information from police department websites, p...
Copyright troll lawyer is finally disbarred for fraud
While it is illegal to download copyrighted files from file-sharing sites, it is also against the law to extort downloaders. John L. Steele, a Chicago lawyer who pled guilty to perjury, fraud and money laundering resulting from alleged "honeypot" sch...
‘Orange is the New Black’ hackers may have stolen 36 other shows
San Francisco transit hackers threaten to expose data
Looks like San Francisco refused to give in to transit system hackers trying to hold the city for ransom. In a conversation with Motherboard, the attackers (still going by "Andy Saolis") have threatened to expose 30GB of Muni databases and documents...