Hackers compromised five United states of america constabulary firms and demanded two 100 Bitcoin (BTC) (over $933,000 at press time) ransoms from each firm: i to restore access to the information, 1 to delete their copy instead of selling it.

According to data shared with Cointelegraph by cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, the hacker group — called Maze — already started publishing part of the information stolen from the same firms. Two of the five law firms were hacked within the 24 hours leading to Feb. 1.

The hackers published the data on two websites that were shared with the author of this article, but volition non be released to protect the firms involved. Maze grouping first names the hacked companies on its website and — if they do not pay — publishes a small part of the stolen data equally proof and keeps releasing increasingly sensitive parts of it over fourth dimension. When a house pays, the group removes its name from the website.

Callow also said that "the group has too published data in Russian hacker forums with a note to 'Employ this information in any nefarious ways that you want.'" Considering of this, he believes that more information volition be published unless the hacked firms pay. He also explained:

"It seems highly unlikely that a criminal enterprise would actually delete what information technology may be able to monetize at a later appointment."

Callow explained that ransomware groups started stealing data — instead of just encrypting it — at the end of 2022. At present cybercriminals are besides threatening the victims with release of the information to extort payment. He said that "the groups have stolen and published data from law firms (including client info.), accounting firms (including client info.), medical practices and medical testing labs (including patient info.) and insurance companies."

Unconversant also gave an overview of the ransomware economy. He explained that Emsisoft had over 200,000 ransomware submissions concluding year and he estimates that to exist nearly 25% of the total, which boils down to 800,000 cases in 2022. The boilerplate demand is now over $80,000, so the full ransom demanded last twelvemonth according to his estimates added upwards to $64 billion.

Ransomware's impact on public perception of crypto

Lastly, Callow also raised the question of how such instances influence the public'southward perception of cryptocurrencies. He explained that equally ransomware started stealing peculiarly sensitive information, it is "likely to result in more than legal actions existence taken confronting ransomware groups, web hosts and currency exchanges." He then said:

"Legal actions such as these, every bit well as the fact that the incidents consequence in very sensitive data being exposed, is likely to raise the profile of ransomware cases. In turn, that could result in the public thinking cryptocurrency is 'only for criminals' making information technology harder for crypto to go more mainstream."

High contour ransomware attacks are increasingly frequent. The European Union Bureau for Law Enforcement Cooperation released a report in Oct 2022, noting that ransomware is even so the top cybersecurity threat.

Recently, a United Kingdom Loftier Court ordered a proprietary injunction on Bitcoin obtained through a ransomware set on that was moved onto an exchange on a Canadian insurance company. At the end of 2022, a Texas-based data center provider CyrusOne has reportedly fallen victim to a ransomware attack.