Tag Archive for: couple
Couple deletes Holiday Inn data for fun after ransomware attack fails
A Vietnamese couple deleted Holiday Inn data from s computers after their ransomware attack failed, saying they did it for fun.
The hackers, who contacted the BBC on Saturday, September 17, said they had deleted the data “for fun”.
According to the evidence provided by the pair they said they were able to access the computers of the Holiday Inn owners, International Hotels Group (IHG) with relative ease.
The group, which owns around 6,000 hotels, received numerous complaints in the week saying that people were having problems booking. The company initially responded by saying that the system was undergoing maintenance, before admitting that they were the subject of a hacking attempt.
Calling themselves TeaPea, the hackers used an encrypted Telegram message to contact the BBC. They provided images as evidence of the hack, images that the company has confirmed are genuine.
The images show that the hackers gained access to servers, emails and Microsoft Teams chats, but were unable to use that access to install ransomware as the company isolated servers before they could so.
Instead the couple who deleted the Holiday Inn data said: “Our attack was originally planned to be a ransomware but the company’s IT team kept isolating servers before we had a chance to deploy it, so we thought to have some funny [sic]. We did a wiper attack instead.
“We don’t feel guilty, really. We prefer to have a legal job here in Vietnam but the wage is an average $300 (€300) per month. I’m sure our hack won’t hurt the company a lot.”
IHG says customer-facing systems are returning to normal although disruptions continue to be experienced as the company works to rebuild the data. Although the hackers say they took no data that has yet to be confirmed by IHG.
The hackers said they gained access to IHG’s internal IT network by tricking an employee into downloading a malicious piece of software, which gave them access. After that, they were able to use weak passwords to access the systems.
A spokeswoman for IHG told the BBC that password vault details were secure. She went on to say they had to evade “multiple layers of security”, adding that “IHG employs a…
Utah dad wanted Hoosick Falls couple killed to stop contact
ALBANY — Christopher Pence’s story sounded like reality television.
A Microsoft internet security engineer, Pence and his wife lived in a huge home on a 20-acre property in a desolate area of Utah — with 16 children.
But in October, Pence’s story became more like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. That’s when the dad with no prior criminal history was charged in U.S. District Court in Albany with trawling the dark web to arrange the murder-for-hire of a Hoosick Falls couple who are the biological parents of five of Pence’s children.
On Friday, at a hearing to determine whether Pence, 41, should remain jailed as he awaits trial, a prosecutor quoted Pence’s chilling words to an administrator on the dark web. That’s where Pence allegedly tried to pay a killer $16,000 in Bitcoin cryptocurrency to handle the murder.
“Good day Admin!” Pence said in the July 20, 2021, message, which was read aloud in court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet O’Hanlon. “I have a couple targets, husband wife, that I am needing removed. However, it is known that they and I dont quite see eye-to-eye on something.
“I am a couple days away from submitting the job as an accident, but before I do, I was wondering, in your experience, even if it is an obvious accident, what kind of investigation will be ran against me, knowing that we are not on the best of terms?” Pence allegedly said. “I have the $$ in CoinBase, but is there something I can do, to help obfuscate my role in this? Will agencies be looking into my CoinBase history? Thank you in advance!”
The prosecutor said Pence made it clear he wanted the couple killed but not anyone else.
“They most likely will have 3 children in the car with them… I am really trying to avoid them from being hurt,” Pence allegedly stated. “I’m wondering if a mugging-gone-wrong might be an option. Or maybe you have another suggestion? ….They currently live in NY.Thank you for your quick response.”
As the prosecutor spoke, Pence’s relatives, including his wife, father and two young children, listened in the first-floor…