Skip to main content

Hacker Jailed on Charges of Blackmailing Apple


A twenty-two-year-old hacker has agreed that he tried to threaten Apple company by alleging that he had data of accounts of millions of iPhone users and that he would destroy these accounts if not given the ransom. The hacker is known to be Kerem Albayrak, living in North London, who scared to clear more than 300 million Apple users' iCloud accounts, demanding that the company gave him iTunes reward vouchers amounting to £76,000 ($1,00,000), as a ransom. However, while enquiring about the issue, Apple discovered that Kerem's claims were false, and he didn't jeopardize the company's safety system.


Kerem has been charged with the crime of data breach and blackmailing and has been sentenced 2 years of jail imprisonment, and 300 hours of community service (unpaid). Two years back, in March 2017, Kerem e-mailed Apple company's safety unit, declaring to have hacked more than 300 Million iCloud accounts of Apple users. To strengthen his claim, Kerem showed him hacking two iCloud accounts in a video that he uploaded on Youtube. The hacker blackmailed to trade the iCloud accounts' data, drop his data on the internet and restore the iCloud accounts if he was denied by Apple to give his iTunes bonus voucher-request. Kerem also agreed to accept cryptocurrency as a payoff, saying he would accept a return of $75,000, but later raised it to $1,00,000. 2 weeks after the threat was sent, Kerem was caught in his house in north London, by the London police.

The attack is called Credential Stuffing-
Apple examined his allegations but was unable to obtain any solid proof that the users' iCloud accounts were hacked. "The hacker collected passwords and e-mail addresses from different aids, that were exposed recently on charges of the data breach," says UK's National Crime Agency in its inquiry. It further says that the hacker sought his chance, checking whether the user had similar iCloud accounts and passwords. The attack is known as 'Credential Stuffing,' which allows the process to complete faster.

While the investigation was in process, Kerem told the investigators, "You have fame and everyone starts to respect you, once you have power on the internet." Along with the 300 hours of unpaid community service, Kerem has also received an electronic curfew of 6 months. "Kerem thought that he could avoid prosecution when he hacked 2 iCloud accounts and blackmailed Apple, an MNC giant," says Anna Smith, senior investigative officer, NCA.


source https://www.ehackingnews.com/2019/12/hacker-jailed-on-charges-of.html
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Betting and Gambling Websites under Cyberattack from Chinese Hackers

Since last year's summers, Chinese hackers have been targeting South Asian companies that own online gambling and betting websites. The gambling companies in South Asia have confirmed the hacks, whereas rumors of cyberattacks on betting websites have also emerged from Europe, and the Middle East, however, the rumors are yet to confirm, says the reports of cybersecurity group Trend Micro and Talent-Jump. Cybersecurity experts claim that no money was stolen in these hacks against the gambling websites. However, hackers have stolen source codes and databases. The motive of the attack was not a cybercrime, but rather espionage intended attack to gain intelligence. According to the experts, a group named ' DRBControl ' is responsible for the cyberattack. According to the reports of Trend Micro, the hacking techniques used in this particular cyberattack incident is similar to methods done by Emissary Panda and Winnti. All of these hacking groups are from China that has launc...
5 comments
Read more

Github Escapes from Octopus Malware that Affected its 26 Software Projects

Github, a platform where every malicious software report is equally different in its place, manages to escape from a malware threat.  Github, an organization that united the world's largest community of coders and software developers, revealed that hackers exploited an open-source platform on its website to distribute malware. The hackers used a unique hacking tool that enabled backdoors in each software project, which the hackers used to infiltrate the software systems. "While we have seen many cases where the software supply chain was compromised by hijacking developer credentials or typosquatting popular package names, a malware that abuses the build process and its resulting artifacts to spread is both interesting and concerning for multiple reasons," said Github on its security blog. Fortunately, the hackers attempt to exploit the open-source platform was unsuccessful. Still, if it were, on the contrary, hackers could've secured a position in the softwares, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Maze Ransomware Operators Leaked 2GB of Financial Data from Bank of Costa Rica (BCR)

Bank of Costa Rica (BCR) has been receiving threats from the threat actors behind Maze ransomware who have stolen credit card details from the bank, the ransomware gang started publishing the encrypted financial details this week. The Banco de Costa Rica is one of the strongest state-owned commercial banks operated in Costa Rica, starting from humble origins of mainly being a private commercial bank, it expanded to become a currency issuer and one of the most renowned baking firms in Central America contributing largely in the financial development of the nation. The hacker group behind the data leak have demanded a ransom from Banco de Costa Rica at various occasions, however, to their dismay they observed a lack of seriousness in the way the bank dealt with these previous leaks and it served as a primary reason that motivated the latest data leak, according to an interview with Maze ransomware operators. As per the claims made by the attackers, Banco de Costa Rica's netw...
Post a Comment
Read more