In the latest implementation of a recently adopted policy against the distribution of hacked materials, Twitter has overcome the account of a hacking group believed to have pilfered thousands of documents from a US law firm claiming insurance claims arising from September. 11, 2001, attacks against terrorists.
The policy, which prohibits the spread of stolen ” private information or trade secrets, ” is only one of several implemented this October in the face of increased scrutiny by Washington lawmakers because of what the United States has done. Intelligence depicted by bodies linked to the Russian Government as the armament of social media.
Black hackers have been spreading stolen material on the platform for years, often with little or no effect. Hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec are only two examples of popular accounts in which links to confidential data from major corporations ‘ servers were openly shared as far back as 2011. However, with this latest action, Twitter appears to confirm that an era of unchecked propagation of stolen secrets is now coming to an end.
The Twitter account was recently created by a well-established hacking group called Dark Overlord. On Monday, the group announced the robbery of approximately 18,000 confidential documents relating to attacks by the World Trade Center, which it claimed to have stolen from a company dealing with insurance litigation.
A reliable source of infringement news, databreaches.net, noted on Wednesday that the initial hack reported for the first time in April received little attention from the press. Dark Overlord identified multiple insurance companies from which it claimed to have acquired the stolen cache: Hiscox Syndicates Ltd., Lloyd’s of London, and Silverstein Properties. In a public statement, Hiscox sought to distance himself from the breach, saying that his IT infrastructure is in no way linked to a law firm he hired, which he claimed to be the source of the leaking material.
“One of the cases handled by the law firm for Hiscox and other insurers in connection with subrogation litigation arising from the 9/11 events, and we believe that this information was stolen during this violation, ” the company said. Notably, while the group says that each of the three insurance companies it identified has been hacked, Hiscox’s statement casts doubt on this claim, in particular by involving a single law firm as its source. The law firm itself has not yet been identified and the Dark Overlord has reportedly refused to explain itself in response to Hiscox.
Lloyd’s from London and Silverstein Properties cannot be reached for comment immediately. In addition to screenshots of hacked files shared through Pastebin links, the threat group also shared a link to an archive divided into five well-encrypted containers. The numerated containers are said to contain more and more scandalous material linked to the attacks of 9/11.
The group advised journalists to download the archive now, adding: “We can publish keys for each of these containers publicly as time goes by if our requests from the companies involved are not met.” The group asked for money in exchange for not releasing the material.”
Pay the fuck up, or with this we’ll bury you, “he said in an open letter. In the meantime, the group claims that it has sold the documents on the dark web.
What sorts of documents, specifically? E-mails, retainer agreements, non-disclosure agreements, settlements, litigation strategies, liability analysis, defence formations, collection of expert witness testimonies, testimonies, communications with government officials in countries all over the world, voice mails, dealings with the FBI, USDOJ, DOD, and more, confidential communications, and so much more.
The Pastebin points to a specific forum, where it claims that decryption keys will be released if its demands are not met; presumably, if a buyer cannot be found otherwise. While the sample documents appear to be authentic, the documents released so far seem typical of what one might expect from legal disputes over the most important terrorist attacks in modern history.
The entire range of material is unknown, but the hacking group has thus described it: it is also clear that the group hopes to exploit the wide range of often unbelievable theories surrounding the attacks and those considered responsible by less than reputable sources.
On Monday, the group tweeted that it would “provide many answers to 9.11 conspiracies through our 18,000 secret documents.” Potentially, the dredging of conspiratorial notions about 9/11 is a tactic to raise awareness in the social media and to force the hands of those who lose the most by distributing proprietary information online.
The real motivation of hackers, however, is by no means a mystery. In fact, they explain this quite clearly in their letter: “We are not motivated by any political thinking. They wrote, “We are not activists.” We’re only motivated by our Internet money (Bitcoin) pursuit. “
