extortion

Karim Hijazi knew his nightmare was just beginning when he saw that a mysterious e-mail had arrived in his inbox at 3 a.m. on May 26 that included his e-mail password and the subject line "Let us talk."

That would mark the beginning of a weeklong saga of e-mail exchanges and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) discussions in which Hijazi says a group of hackers told him they wouldn't publicly divulge information they had gotten from snooping on his accounts if he revealed sensitive security information acquired by the botnet-tracking firm, Unveillance, that he launched last year. … Read more

A hacker in the Netherlands broke into some jailbroken iPhones and sent text messages to the owners asking them to pay to find out how to secure their phones, according to postings in a Dutch forum called Tweakers.net.

One of the victims posted a screenshot from his iPhone of the SMS received. It said: "Your iPhone's been hacked because it's really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now! Right now, I can access all your files."

The URL provided now displays a message indicating that it was reported for spam or phishing abuse and has been deactivated.

Ars Technica reports that before the page was removed, it asked that victims send 5 euros ($7.36) to a PayPal account and then await an e-mail with instructions on how to secure the phone. The fix probably would involve restoring the factory settings, according to the Ars Technica post.

"If you don't pay, it's fine by me," the hacker's page said. "But remember, the way I got access to your iPhone can be used by thousands of others--they can send text messages from your number (like I did), use it to call or record your calls, and actually whatever they want, even use it for their hacking activities! I can assure you, I have no intention of harming you or whatever, but, some hackers do! It's just my advice to secure your phone."… Read more

One week after a breached corporate health care company refused to pay extortionists, the criminals now are seeking money from the corporate clients whose employee data might have been exposed.

St. Louis-based Express Scripts said on Tuesday that a limited number of its clients--which include government agencies, unions, and employers--have received letters threatening to expose the personal information of its members. The company said the letters sent to its clients were similar to the original extortion threat it received in October.

The company also said it was establishing a reward totaling $1 million to anyone providing information that results in … Read more

The customer database of Express Scripts, a company used by employer health care services to provide prescription medicine by mail, has been breached. In a twist, the company said it learned of the breach in "a letter from an unknown person or persons trying to extort money from the company."

The company posted details on its Web site Thursday. The letter, received in October, threatened to reveal millions of customer records--including Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and in some cases, prescription information--on the Internet if the extortion demands were not paid. The company did not disclose … Read more