Dark Overlord hackers have pledged to leak information related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York
As the world prepared to receive the New Year,
the hacker group known as The Dark Overlord made a statement that took the
whole cybersecurity community by surprise because, according to specialists
from the International Institute of Cyber Security, this group of hackers
claims to have stolen a huge amount of data from the legal firm Hiscox Syndicates LTD, a company
responsible for the management of insurance policy files related to the attacks
of September 11, 2001.
The incident was discovered after a Pastebin ad
appeared online; in it, it was mentioned that, in addition to the attack
against Hiscox Syndicates, the hackers also attacked the organizations Lloyds
of London and Silverstein Properties.
In addition, hackers claim that Hiscox and
Lloyds of London “are the largest insurance companies in the world.” After
explaining their motives for attacking legal and insurance firms, hackers
demanded a ransom payment in Bitcoin and threatened to leak sensitive
information related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks if their demands were not
fulfilled.
According to specialists in cybersecurity, the stolen data include email addresses, non-disclosure agreements,
accountability analysis, litigation strategies, agreements, testimonials,
exchanges of information with public officials from all over the world, etc.
According to Pastebin publication of The Dark
Overlord, the Hiscox firm was aware of the cyberattack and even made a first
payment for the rescue of the information, but failed to comply with the
cybercriminals’s demands by notifying the authorities of the incident.
“After a few months we discovered that law
enforcement agencies had been involved in this issue thanks to an informant.
Even after this violation of our agreement we decided to give the legal firm a
second chance to meet our demands. Because they refused to accept this new offer,
we decided to act this way”, mentions the post of the hacking organization.
To demonstrate their claims, The Dark Overlord
published 16 screenshots showing fragments of internal communication from
Hiscox Syndicates, in addition to publishing a download link, which apparently
contains 10 GB of encrypted data, whose decryption keys will be published
later, according to the group of hackers.
“If you are one of dozens of law firms that
participated in the litigation, a politician who was involved in the case, an
investment bank, etc., you can contact us through our email to request that you
formally withdraw your documents and materials of any possible public
disclosure in exchange for a payment,” mentions the Pastebin post.
According to experts in cybersecurity, The Dark
Overlord group is a well-known hacking organization identified primarily for
its attacks against banks, insurers, cosmetic surgery clinics, companies like Netflix,
etc.
In May 2018, law enforcement agencies in Serbia
arrested a 38-year-old man, born in Belgrade, pointing him as a suspect of being
one of the main members of The Dark Overlord. However, due to this recent
attack campaign the specialists deduce that it has not been possible to shut
down this organization, showing that The Dark Overlord is still active.
