Hackers Fail to Honor Promises to Delete Data
Cybercrime
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Fraud Management & Cybercrime
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Ransomware
Police Say Gang Extorted Millions From Victims Not Just by Stealing, But Lying Too
Cybercrime experts have long urged victims to never pay a ransom in return for any promises attackers make to delete stolen data.
See Also: OnDemand | Navigating the Difficulties of Patching OT
Paying attackers for guarantees to delete data directly funds cybercrime and perpetrates cyber extortion as a business model. Just as importantly, it typically doesn’t stop criminals from selling stolen data, as a recently unveiled criminal probe demonstrates.
On Thursday, cybercrime police in the Netherlands announced that they had busted a three-man gang accused not just of hacking into companies, stealing their data and threatening to dump it online – unless they received a ransom payment – but also of failing to honor its guarantees.
Dutch police arrested the suspects – two 21-year-olds and one 18-year-old – on Jan. 23, and two of them have since been jailed and only allowed to speak to their attorney while the investigation continued. “Because of this measure and in order not to disrupt the investigation, the arrests have not been announced before,” police said. The suspects have been charged with computer hacking, data theft, extortion and money laundering.
The investigation began in March 2021 after a large Dutch company reported an attack to…
