News Insights: Hackers Threaten to Dump Insurance Files Related to 9/11 Attacks

News Insights: Terry Ray, CTO of Imperva, explains why this type of extortion attack can be so damaging.

“This issue demonstrates how extortion can be even more damaging than ransomware. The Dark Overlord is only offering silence in return for payment, not returned access to files or other data. This is a good example of how an entity can pay an extortionist and yet have to pay again, and likely yet again in the future. With ransomware, once the files or data are unlocked the attacker loses their power; with extortion, the attacker has power and ability to make threats until the value of the data diminishes.”