Ransom News

A new Chainalysis report suggests ransomware attackers are “working harder for diminishing returns” as regulatory pressure and refusals to pay have hurt ransom proceeds. 

A crypto trader said a former Revolut employee tried to extort him and contacted his relatives. Revolut confirmed an investigation and said no systems were breached.

Group-IB found a ransomware dubbed DeadLock that is exploiting Polygon smart contracts to rotate proxy addresses to evade takedowns.

AI company Anthropic warns its AI chatbot Claude is being used to perform large-scale cyberattacks, with ransoms exceeding $500,000 in some cases.

TRM Labs says the Embargo ransomware group has moved over $34 million in ransom-linked crypto since April, targeting US hospitals and critical infrastructure.

After sentencing the three kidnappers to 12 years each and ordering civil damages, the court noted that the masterminds behind the attack remain at large.

French authorities suspect the possibility of a criminal organization behind two recent crypto-linked alleged kidnappings, Le Parisien reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has questioned Coinbase’s 2021 claim that it had more than 100 million “verified users” in the ongoing investigation.

Coinbase rejected a $20 million ransom demand after insiders leaked user data in a phishing scheme. The exchange expects up to $400 million in reimbursement and remediation costs.

A UK gang that kidnapped, tortured and extorted a man for his cryptocurrency has been sentenced at Manchester Crown Court.

Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped in France and safely released after police intervention. The incident involved a cryptocurrency ransom demand.

Ransomware attacks resulted in over $1 billion in cryptocurrency payments in 2023 as criminals targeted high-profile institutions and infrastructure.

SmokeLoader, RaccoonStealer (also known as RecordBreaker) and Vidar top the charts, according to BlackBerry’s list.

Attackers of this kind are supposedly “big game hunting” large-scale organizations with deep pockets to extract ”the most money possible” out of these firms.

The hack on Latitude Financial is Australia’s biggest cyberattack, with driver’s license numbers, passports and financial documents among the stolen information.