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Fortune 500 Company Hires Ransomware Gang To Hack the Competition (vice.com)
It's no secret that ransomware hackers are in the business to make money. But a new business arrangement hitting the news today may surprise many. Vice's Motherboard, citing research and investigation (PDF) from security firm F-Secure, is reporting that a Fortune 500 company, the name of which hasn't been unveiled, hired a ransomware gang to hack its competitors. From the article: In an exchange with a security researcher pretending to be a victim, one ransomware agent claimed they were working for a Fortune 500 company. "We are hired by [a] corporation to cyber disrupt day-to-day business of their competition," the customer support agent of a ransomware known as Jigsaw said, according to a new report by security firm F-Secure. "The purpose was just to lock files to delay a corporation's production time to allow our clients to introduce a similar product into the market first."In a statement to Motherboard, Mikko Hypponen said, "If this indeed was a case where ransomware was used on purpose to disrupt a competitor's operation, it's the only case we know of." F-Secure adds that the consumer representative noted that "politicians, governments, husbands, wives -- people from all walks of life contract [them] to hack computers, cell phones."
Someone working with a ransomware scammer might not be the most trustworthy source of information.
Assuming this is true...
What should happen is that the "genius" who thought this up should be convicted and sent to prison for 30 years (or whatever they threatened Aaron Swartz with), for breaking the CFAA.
What actually will happen is that $BIGCORP will get a trivial slap-on-the-wrist fine.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
If evidence exists that this event happened, the corporation that directed the attack needs to have all of their top executive imprisoned. The business world is fucked up enough as it is.
$SCARYRUMOR
p.s. - Buy our security product.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
There was a customer who walked into my shop to get his iPhone 4s fixed a month or so ago. While he was waiting, we made small talk, and he bragged about his pickup truck. He told me that it has a 'chip' that makes it produce 900HP. He used to have a 1000HP chip, but his grandfather saw him spinning his tires, so he told him to take it out.
The truck was a rusty, 20-year-old Dodge, with a V8 that produces about 240HP from the factory.
Did I smile and nod, occasionally saying 'Wow'? Of course. Did I believe him? Not in the least.
This also reminds me of a story from one of the Gawker blogs, where a writer interviewed taxi drivers. The question she asked was: "Have you ever been propositioned by a passenger?" Most said "No", a couple said "Once", and one guy claimed that it happened every night, and that he had women falling all over him.
The part of this story that makes it a little unbelievable is the range of customers he claimed to have. 'Husbands and wives'; do they have a website where we can go and order some hacking? If not, how are these average citizens finding them? 'Governments'? I should expect that most interested governments would instead invest into their own cyber-military, rather than hiring a 2-bit scammer. This just doesn't smell right.
This is what my tabletop gaming group's current Shadowrun job is. Granted, it's much more involved in the game because the objective is ensure that a live product demo fails spectacularly so that the corporation gets no new clients and goes to a competitor (our employer) instead, but the spirit of the run is essentially the same.
Each day we inch closer to the fictional cyberpunk dystopia of yesterday.
if they help fortune 500 companies stay rich, their methods will be legalized soon.
During the robber baron days, it was common for the corporations to hire mercenaries and thugs to wage battles with workers and strikers. Murder, mayhem and riots were so routine that the government had to dispatch the military. That activity got outlawed. Internet warfare between corporations will get outlawed in time.
Is it your current thinking that hiring hackers to attack your competition is currently legal?
If so, you are wrong.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Is it your current thinking that hiring hackers to attack your competition is currently legal?
If so, you are wrong.
Murder, mayhem and riots aren't legal. Not then, not now.
...to "Super-sketchy slimeball makes vague, unsubstantiated claim of having been hired by a Fortune 500 company".
Motherboard's headline at least acknowledges that all it's reporting is "ransomware gang claims that...", and the other report cited by the post says
"""
F-Secure’s security advisor Sean Sullivan doesn’t think the story sounds plausible. “It’s probably a young gun, just trying to make a hundred bucks. 95% chance he’s spinning a yarn,”
"""
I'm not saying it can't be true, but seriously, but why does /.'s headline upgrade crooks to people whose statements should be taken at face value?
I take Hypponen as a credible security expert but I thing he went to the deep end to keep his name in the news. First off, if this fortune 500 company is not one of the new inductees to the list from mainland China or some equivalent 3rd world country, I do not believe, they would risk anything like that. Right behind that reasoning, I can see the cryptolocker pirates wanting to make a name for themselves and announce that they are doing this on behalf of this or that corporation. It sure gives them some clout but at the end, it is just their BS. Nothing more. Unless Hypponen has a smoking gun and wants to come out and let the world know this is actually the case, I will keep my skeptic hat on.
__________
The more I know people, the more I love animals
You taking us for suckers, or what?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
VP's CEO's need to due hard time and not hide under a system of contractors / sub contractors / independent contractors / staffing firms. Where they can pass the blame but control them them like they are there W2 pay roll.
Hippocracy? Doesn't that mean a government run by horses?
This is an intrusion into the free market!!
On the contrary. Civil asset forfeiture, as evil as it is, would have a much greater effect. In fact, this is exactly the kind of thing it is supposed to be used for. Tattooing "I am a thief" on their foreheads would be a nice supplementary measure to make sure that nobody forgets. Let's save the prison space for the button men and truly violent people who present a real danger to the public.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Isn't that illegal? Meaning, wouldn't getting caught hiring people to commit computer trespass have penalties far greater than what could be gained by successfully hacking your competitors?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
The Zionist/Rothchild controlled FBI would never allow her to be convicted
So you are saying that the Mormons are controlled by Zionists/Rothschilds?
OMFG
http://www.moneyteachers.org/R...
Its on the Internet so it must be true!
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Nationalize the company and give all the assets to the IRS in the event of proven unlawful activity? Sounds good. Because it's not a person, a corporation doesn't have the right to due process. At least that's the theory behind civil forfeiture, right? The property committed the crime, and it must be punished by being confiscated! And, no trial is required, because property doesn't have any rights... so why do corporations have rights, again?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
On the contrary. Civil asset forfeiture, as evil as it is, would have a much greater effect. In fact, this is exactly the kind of thing it is supposed to be used for. Tattooing "I am a thief" on their foreheads would be a nice supplementary measure to make sure that nobody forgets. Let's save the prison space for the button men and truly violent people who present a real danger to the public.
Most cops seem to think civil asset forfeiture is for taking small change from out of town folks driving through in their cars!
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Murder, mayhem and riots aren't legal. Not then, not now.
That's what makes them so much FUN!!!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
For decades security and IT consultants have been asked by their clients about possibilities of attacking the competition. I am just surprised it took so long before they found a bunch of crackers to actually do it at a level where it became news. Regards, Khawar Nehal http://atrc.net.pk/
Only if we can tattoo "I am a collaborator" on the democrats.
This is offtopic, but I wanted to respond, so I have to post AC for the obvious reason.
I'd like to think it's a government run by Hippos. Because why not?
Mercenaries? Hell didn't the Dutch East India Trading Co have its own army?
Exactly, they just declined to prosecute.
Oh, and it also is not unlawful if the government does it.
And most politicians. And most judges. And most lawyers. And both parties.
The only people who do not support civil assets forfeiture do not matter.