GoKawiil
Tech News
Federal prosecutors have indicted Zohar Pinhasi, CEO of cybersecurity firm MonsterCloud, alleging his company charged ransomware victims millions of dollars for proprietary decryption technology that did not actually exist. According to the indictment, MonsterCloud instead secretly paid hackers a much smaller sum to obtain decryption keys, while telling clients it had cracked the encryption itself.
The US Department of Justice has charged Zohar Pinhasi, operating MonsterCloud, with fraud for allegedly deceiving clients by claiming to decrypt files without paying ransom. Instead, the company reportedly paid hackers a portion of the fees and kept the rest, charging over $19 million in total while paying just over $8 million in ransom payments. Evidence suggests MonsterCloud used samples from ransomware operators as proof of decryption ability, despite not having proprietary tools.
Zohar Pinhasi, owner of Florida-based ransomware recovery firm MonsterCloud, was indicted on charges of conspiracy and wire fraud for allegedly paying cybercriminals for decryption keys while claiming to use proprietary technology. He surrendered to authorities, pleaded not guilty, and was released on a $2 million bond. Prosecutors assert that MonsterCloud's claims of decrypting data without paying ransom were false, and that the company often paid attackers directly to restore clients' files.