Tag Archive for: extortion

BlackBerry Prevails Against MobileIron’s Baseless Extortion Claims

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BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today announced that earlier this week, a California federal court approved a stipulation submitted by MobileIron dismissing with prejudice claims MobileIron filed earlier this year alleging that BlackBerry attempted to “extort” MobileIron into entering a patent licensing agreement. As a result, MobileIron will have to pay BlackBerry’s costs and attorney’s fees in defending against those claims.

In its complaint filed earlier this year, MobileIron claimed that BlackBerry attempted “civil extortion” by sending MobileIron notices of patent infringement.  But as BlackBerry maintained throughout the suit, BlackBerry’s efforts to enforce its patent rights were at all times proper, and MobileIron’s claims to the contrary were both “abusive” and “meritless.” The dismissal of MobileIron’s claims vindicates BlackBerry’s position and the propriety of BlackBerry’s licensing practices.

“BlackBerry is a pioneer in mobile security and enterprise software and has always stood behind its technologies and licensing practices,” said Steve Rai , Chief Financial Officer, BlackBerry. “We are gratified that these meritless claims have been definitively put to rest and will continue to vigorously defend BlackBerry’s position. We appreciate the change in direction that Ivanti, MobileIron’s new owner, has taken with respect to this suit and look forward to working with them to reconcile the remaining open items.”

BlackBerry’s portfolio consists of approximately 38,000 worldwide patents and applications covering a wide array of technologies including wireless communications, networking infrastructure, acoustics, messaging, enterprise software, operating systems, virtualization and cybersecurity.

About BlackBerry
BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500M endpoints including over 175M cars on the road today.  Based in Waterloo, Ontario , the company leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions,…

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Ransomware Gang Devises Innovative Extortion Tactic

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Fraud Management & Cybercrime
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Fraud Risk Management
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Ransomware

Ragnar Locker’s Facebook Ad Stunt a Harbinger of New Approaches

Doug Olenick (DougOlenick) •
November 13, 2020    

Ransomware Gang Devises Innovative Extortion Tactic
Screenshot of Ragnar Locker’s Wall of Shame, where stolen data is exposed (Source: Kaspersky)

The gang behind the Ragnar Locker ransomware posted an ad on Facebook in an attempt to publicly shame a victim so it would pay a ransom. Security experts say the innovative tactic is indicative of things to come.

See Also: Palo Alto Networks Ignite 20: Discover the Future of Cybersecurity, Today

Earlier this week, the cyber gang hacked into a random company’s Facebook advertising account and then used it to buy an ad containing a press release stating Ragnar Locker had breached the Italian liquor company Campari and demanded it pay the ransom or see its data released. The security firm Emsisoft provided an image of the ad to Information Security Media Group.

“What we’re seeing right now is the rise of ransomware 2.0,” says Dmitry Bestuzhev, a researcher at the security firm Kaspersky. “By that I mean, attacks are becoming highly targeted and the focus isn’t just on encryption; instead, the extortion process is based around publishing confidential data online.”

Start of a Trend?

Security experts say ransomware gangs increasingly will try new stunts to force their targets to pay up.

“I’ve not seen a play like this before, but it’s not at all surprising. Ransomware groups push out press releases and do media outreach, so this was a logical extension,” says Brett Callow, threat analyst with Emsisoft.

Chris Hauk, consumer privacy champion at Pixel Privacy, says “Facebook…

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Men who were paid $100,000 by Uber to hush-up hack plead guilty to extortion scheme

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Two hackers face up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to their involvement in a scheme which saw them attempt to extort money from Uber and LinkedIn in exchange for the deletion of stolen data.

Read more in my article on the Tripwire State of Security blog.

Graham Cluley