President Trump is facing a possible release of private information unless the group with said information is paid the hefty sum they are asking for.
A group of hackers this week crippled the computer systems of celebrity law firm, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, claiming to have stolen 756GB of confidential information, including documents, contracts, and personal emails from the firm’s list of clients. These include Madonna, Drake, Lady Gaga, Elton John, Robert De Niro, U2 and Bruce Springsteen.
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The hackers originally demanded $21 million from the law firm, but on Thursday, they doubled it after claiming they have information on the president as well.
“The ransom is now $42,000,000,” the hackers said on their dark web site, “The next person we’ll be publishing is Donald Trump. There’s an election going on, and we found a ton of dirty laundry on time.”
They also made a direct comment to Trump:
“Mr. Trump if you want to stay president, poke a sharp stick at the guys, otherwise, you may forget this ambition forever. And to you voters, we can let you know that after such a publication, you certainly don’t want to see him as president.”
The payment has been demanded for within the week and also came with a warning to Allen Grubman, saying they would “destroy” his company.
Trump is not known to be a client of the company, so it is unclear what – if any – “dirty laundry” they could have on him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OwhA79bL0U
The ransomware used in the attack is called Revil or Sodinokibi. Like all ransomware, once it is downloaded on someone’s network, it quickly encrypts all files (including back-ups) and renders the entire system unusable unless a random is paid.
The question, now, is whether or not the ransom should be paid. There is no guarantee that if the payment is made that the information won’t still be published. This might mean that actually paying the ransom isn’t even an option, and they may have to try and hope for the best.
Another thing is that the FBI has labeled this attack as an act of terrorism, and the government doesn’t deal with terrorists.
It could be a bluff or these hackers could be sitting on a huge wealth of incriminating information.
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