Tech Firms May Be Negotiating With Hackers By Paying Requested Ransoms

From 2015 to 2018, about 200 groups and individuals became the SamSam Ransomware’s victims. Hackers made use of the software to attack the computer networks of targets, and not surprisingly, they required the victims – who wanted to get their access back – to pay an amount (maybe in cryptocurrency).

To do that, some victims called for support from data recovery companies like Proven Data Recovery. ProPublica conducted an investigation and detected that instead of applying the “latest technology” to unlock the infected data, the company chose to pay a ransom for the hackers. In other words, it seems to be funding terrorism.

The SamSam ransomware mainly aimed at government agencies and hospitals, and it came as no surprise when these targets decided to look for third parties’ support to regain what had been hacked in the soonest time.

According to ProPublica, Proven Data Recovery didn’t actually tackle the attacks. In fact, the company just entered into a negotiation with the hackers and more exactly, gave them the ransoms as requested. That’s not all. They also required the clients to pay many other considerable fees.

Storfer who worked for Proven Data said to ProPublica that hackers even suggested their victims hire the data recovery company. Storfer revealed,

At the end of 2018, the US Justice Department accused two men from Iran of making and spreading the SamSam ransomware. However, the agency didn’t reveal how the men planned to spend the amount of ransoms.

In an interview with ProPublica, Victor Congiont, the CEO of Proven Data, the company no longer paid the attackers caused by the SamSam ransomware since the United States detected they came from Iran. They said,

As per the Proven Data’s ex-worker, Storfer believed that the prevention of negotiation may be too late. He said to ProPublica,