A notorious criminal hacking group just got it hands in perhaps one of the most controversial piece of information related to US President Donald Trump today. At least that’s what the hackers are claiming to have acquired just last week.
The hacking group, calling themselves REvil, just hacked and got immediate access to some “secret data” allegedly owned and managed by one of the foremost names in media and entertainment law firms in the United States. This leading law firm, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, represents some of the well-known celebrities in the industry and REvil is threatening to expose “valuable” information relating to US President Donald Trump. Unless of course, they are paid US$ 42 million.
Cyber security experts, including news and entertainment reporters, are left scratching their heads, wondering as to why and how Donald Trump is linked to the law firm.
As the initial story goes, the hacking group infiltrated the law firm’s network servers and was able to acquire almost 800 GB of sensitive information belonging to the law firm. According to the hacking group’s claims, the stolen data contains confidential data – from exclusive contracts, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), private phone numbers, email addresses, and even personal correspondences from some of hollywood’s A-listers.
A lawyer for the New York-based law firm, Attorney Allan Grubman, refuses to negotiate with the hackers. He alleges that there’s no possible way for them to guarantee that the stolen information will not be exposed even after they are paid. As goes with other ransomware cases, of course this is true. A criminal will instinctively keep his cash-cow intact and think of other ways to make some more money out of it, especially if what they have is really of great value.
The initial amount demanded by the hacking group is US$ 21 million. But after hearing the unacceptable response form the lawyer, the hacking group became furious and decided to take it up a notch. A 200% notch to be exact – they have issued a new threat, with double the initial amount.
The hackers are threatening to release a truckload of information concerning US President Donald Trump. According to them, there’s going to be an election soon and with the amount of dirty laundry that they have, this is going to be controversial. They have aimed to get the attention of not just the firm, but the American people as well. They said they can guarantee that once the information is exposed, they wouldn’t want to be voting for Donald Trump as President.
Adding to the threats, the hacking group told Mr. Allen Grubman that they will make sure that the law firm gets destroyed and their clients humiliated.
However, there were no proof released to back up their threats or anything related to the alleged stolen data about Donald Trump. Moreover, the firm continues to deny any dealings or business relationship with Donald Trump, further stating that the US President was never a client, ever.
Despite the firm’s steady investments in having state-of-the-art security against cyber-attacks, it was evidently not enough to fend off the hacking group. As of this writing, the firm is continuously working with federal law enforcement, leading cybersecurity agencies, and the national government in order to address the situation.
