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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

A hacker named Buba dumped customer details obtained from a United Arab Emirates bank [wired.com] after the bank refused to pay a $3 million bitcoin ransom. The hacker has also contacted some of the bank's customers individually:

A hacker who broke into a large bank in the United Arab Emirates made good on his threat to release customer data after the bank refused to pay a bitcoin ransom worth about $3 million. The hacker, who calls himself Hacker Buba, breached the network of a bank in Sharjah last month identified as Invest Bank by The Daily Dot [dailydot.com], and began releasing customer account and transaction records via Twitter.

[...] The news was first reported by the Dubai-based newspaper Xpress [gulfnews.com]. According to the journalist, the hacker offered to give him 5 percent of the paid ransom for his cooperation, though it's unclear what kind of cooperation he was seeking from the reporter. He reportedly told the journalist that he had data from other banks as well. "I give u 5 % from total I get. Have many banks from UAE, Qater, ksa and etc. Will work together," he reportedly wrote in a direct message to the reporter via Twitter.

The hacker reportedly used the picture of an Invest Bank employee for his Twitter avatar to post the account statements of government officials and UAE firms on November 18. Although Twitter closed the account, the hacker opened a new one and released the account statements of some 500 bank customers.

He also sent text messages and emails to bank customers, using contact details gleaned from their bank account records, and threatening to release their records online unless they or the bank paid him a ransom.

More at SC Magazine [scmagazineuk.com] and The Register [theregister.co.uk].

Original Submission