Hackers have executed another major attack and have demanded $4 million in ransom. This time, the victim is Shirbit, an Israeli insurance company. The hacker group behind the attack is known as “The Black Shadow,” and they had infiltrated the servers of the insurance company last week, managing to steal confidential data.
As reported by local media outlet the Jerusalem Post, the attacks follow similar incidents that took place in the United States last week, where the attackers compromised the data of various insurance companies and demanded anything from $100,000 to “millions of dollars,” the report said.
Shirbit is one of the largest insurance providers in Israel and boasts several prominent individuals and government employees among its clientele, such as Gilad Noitel, the president of the Tel Aviv District Court.
Threatening to leak data
As of now, the Black Shadow Group has already posted a significant portion of stolen data online, including ID cards, personal files, and internal faxes. This move was to threaten the insurance to pay the bitcoin ransom quicker or pay a bigger amount later. A scheme, quite common in bitcoin ransomware attacks.
First, the hackers demanded a ransom of 50 bitcoin to be paid Wednesday. The group stated that they held private and sensitive information about the firm’s executives and employees alongside other insurance data.
They went on to add that if the said ransom wasn’t paid in time, the amount would double to 100 Bitcoins (approximately $2 million) and then to 200 Bitcoin (≈$4 million) if the firm fails to pay the ransom was by Friday.
In case the ransom isn’t paid, the hackers have threatened to “sell the data to others.”
The National Cyber Directorate, Israeli’s cybersecurity watchdog, and the Capital Market Authority are investigating the case with Shirbit since Tuesday, and they have confirmed that insurance details were indeed leaked.
Zvi Leibushor, CEO of Sherbit, said that hack was meant to hurt the broader Israeli economy and assured that the firm would exhaust all its resources to catch those responsible for this. He said:
“Shirbit has invested millions of shekels in securing databases and protecting against cyberattacks, and meets all the stringent regulatory requirements in this area.”
However, the hackers seemed to have bypassed these security measures. Last month, Gaming giant Capcom underwent an attack, and “certain systems” including the company’s email and file servers were encrypted by the attackers. The hackers then demanded $11 million in Bitcoin.
