#Extortion
All CosmicBytez Labs articles tagged #Extortion, across news, security advisories, how-to guides, and projects.
- News
Ransomware Gangs Embrace Physical Threats, Family Stalking
A 2026 Semperis survey finds ransomware gangs increasingly threaten violence, stalking, and abduction against victims and their families.
- News
Ransomware Response Expert Arrested in ShinyHunters FBI Hack Probe
Canadian cybersecurity executive Edward Dubrovsky, 54, was arrested in Pennsylvania on extortion charges amid the FBI's ShinyHunters breach probe.
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Canadian Cybersecurity Executive Arrested in Federal Extortion Case Tied to ShinyHunters Probe
CYPFER co-founder Edward Dubrovsky, 54, was arrested on federal extortion charges as prosecutors probe ShinyHunters' breach of FBI systems.
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Cyber Exec Arrested in Case Allegedly Tied to ShinyHunters Hackers
Canadian cybersecurity exec Edward Dubrovsky, a CYPFER co-founder, was arrested on extortion charges multiple outlets link to the FBI's ShinyHunters probe.
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Insider Cyber Extortion Plot Against Industrial Firm Lands Engineer in Prison
Former infrastructure engineer Daniel Rhyne, 59, gets 32 months for deleting admin accounts and demanding 20 bitcoin (~$750,000) from his ex-employer.
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ASOS Confirms Data Breach After “HACKED” In-App Notifications
ASOS confirmed a breach after hackers sent unauthorized “ASOS HACKED” push alerts, claiming to have compromised its Snowflake environment.
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Engineer Sentenced for Locking Over 3,000 Devices on Employer Network
Daniel Rhyne, a former infrastructure engineer, got 32 months after locking out servers and workstations and demanding $750,000 in bitcoin.
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Dutch Police Arrest 'Reformed' Hacker in ShinyHunters Investigation
Dutch police arrested a 24-year-old convicted hacker tied to ShinyHunters, and the group then breached the FBI's job site and extorted Cl0p.
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ShinyHunters Trades Financial Extortion for a Reckless War of Ego With the FBI
ShinyHunters skips its usual ransom demand, instead threatening the FBI to retract a report — alarming experts who warn agent and family safety is at risk.
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U.S. Army Soldier Sentenced to 70 Months for AT&T, Verizon Extortion Scheme
Cameron Wagenius, 22, was sentenced to 70 months and ordered to pay $294,978 after hacking AT&T, Verizon, and Snowflake customers via stolen credentials.
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Latvia Arrests Suspected Hacker for Electronics Repair Company Breach
Latvia's State Police arrested a 23-year-old suspected of hacking TSC and another firm, stealing personal data and attempting extortion.
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ShinyHunters Claims FBI Breach, Says It Stole Data on Agents and Job Applicants
ShinyHunters claims it breached FBI systems via an Oracle PeopleSoft flaw, stealing 2-3TB of data on agents, applicants, and Director Patel.
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ShinyHunters Hijacks Cl0p's Ransomware Leak Site, Demands Extortion Payment
ShinyHunters seized Cl0p's dark web leak site, defaced it, and is demanding an eight-figure payment plus a public apology.
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Berlin Refuses to Pay Rhysida Ransom Over Alleged Senate Data Theft
Rhysida ransomware claims 5.7TB stolen from a Berlin Senate department; city officials say they will not pay the 30 BTC ransom demand.
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McKesson Confirms Data Breach as ShinyHunters' Deadline Looms
McKesson confirms unauthorized access to two business units after ShinyHunters claims 284 million records and demands ~$55M by Sept 1.
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FulcrumSec Claims Manchester Airports Hack, Theft of 86GB of Data
Extortion group FulcrumSec claims it stole 86GB of data from Manchester Airports Group, affecting roughly 8.7 million customers across three UK airports.
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Ransom Busters: Ransomware Affiliate Poses as Data Recovery Firm
A ransomware affiliate operating as 'Ransom Busters' contacts breach victims posing as a recovery service, then double-extorts them for $20K–$60K.
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Wesco Confirms Security Incident After ExfilSquad Claims 2.6M Record Theft
Fortune 500 distributor Wesco confirmed a breach of its cloud CRM after ExfilSquad published 2.6M allegedly stolen records when ransom talks failed.
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DeadLock Ransomware Uses Polygon Smart Contracts to Harden Extortion Infrastructure
The DeadLock ransomware group is leveraging Polygon blockchain smart contracts and the Session messaging network to build decentralized extortion...
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Vishing Extortion Group UNC6671 Rebrands After Making Millions
Vishing extortion group UNC6671 (formerly BlackFile) rebrands into Redact, Pink, Helix, and Falcon after earning millions from enterprise voice phishing.
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ShinyHunters Claims Brinks Home Breach, Threatens to Leak Stolen Data
Notorious threat actor ShinyHunters claims to have breached residential security company Brinks Home, threatening to publicly release sensitive customer...
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Ernst & Young Data Breach Claimed by ShinyHunters Extortion Gang
The ShinyHunters extortion group has claimed responsibility for a supply chain attack against Ernst & Young, alleging access to the Big Four firm's Jira,...
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Swiss Rail Giant Stadler Refuses $12.3M Ransom Demand from Everest Group
Stadler Rail has publicly rejected a CHF 10 million (~$12.3M USD) ransom demand from the Everest extortion group following a breach of a supplier...
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Anubis Ransomware Claims Coca-Cola Fairlife Attack, Threatens Data Leak
The Anubis ransomware gang claims responsibility for a cyberattack on Coca-Cola's Fairlife dairy subsidiary, threatening to publish stolen corporate data...
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Abbott Laboratories Probes Two Cyber Incidents Amid Extortion Claims
Abbott Laboratories is investigating two separate cybersecurity incidents: confirmed unauthorized access to legacy Exact Sciences systems in its Cancer...
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Centers Laboratory Data Breach Affects 540,000 Individuals
The WorldLeaks extortion group claims to have stolen 720 GB of data from Centers Laboratory, a healthcare testing and laboratory services provider,...
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County Government Reportedly Paid $1 Million to Cyber Extortion Group
A small Ohio county reportedly paid a cyber extortion group $1 million to prevent the public release of sensitive stolen government data, highlighting the...
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U.S. Government Entity Paid Kairos $1 Million in Data-Theft Extortion Case
A leaked negotiation chat and blockchain analysis reveal that a U.S. government entity paid approximately $1 million to the Kairos extortion group to...
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LastPass Confirms Data Breach in Klue Supply Chain Attack
The Icarus extortion group compromised Klue, an AI-powered competitive intelligence platform, harvesting OAuth tokens to drain CRM data from hundreds of...
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Nintendo Confirms Employee Data Stolen in TinyPulse Cyberattack by Shadowbyt3$
Nintendo of America has confirmed that approximately 1GB of employee data — including W-9 forms, bank statements, and HR survey responses — was...
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Council of Europe Investigates ShinyHunters Data Breach Claims
The Council of Europe, Europe's oldest intergovernmental body, is probing data breach claims made by the ShinyHunters extortion group, which claimed...
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Carnival Cruise Confirms Data Breach Affecting Nearly 6 Million People
Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise operator, confirms a breach affecting nearly 6M people after ShinyHunters' April 2026 extortion claim.
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7-Eleven Data Breach Confirmed After ShinyHunters Ransom
7-Eleven has confirmed a data breach after ShinyHunters claimed to have stolen more than 600,000 Salesforce records containing personal information and...
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Grafana Says Stolen GitHub Token Let Hackers Steal Codebase
Grafana Labs confirmed that hackers downloaded its source code after breaching its GitHub environment using a stolen access token. The attackers attempted...
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Grafana GitHub Token Breach Led to Codebase Download and Extortion Attempt
Grafana has disclosed that an unauthorized party obtained a GitHub access token, used it to download the company's entire codebase, and then attempted...
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Instructure Reaches Ransom Agreement with ShinyHunters to Stop 3.65 TB Canvas Leak
Educational technology company Instructure, parent of Canvas LMS, has reached an undisclosed 'agreement' with the ShinyHunters extortion group after a...
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Canvas Breach Disrupts Schools & Colleges Nationwide
A data extortion attack against Canvas LMS defaced login pages with a ransom demand, disrupting classes and coursework at school districts and...
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Canvas Login Portals Hacked in Mass ShinyHunters Extortion
ShinyHunters has struck education technology giant Instructure again, exploiting a fresh vulnerability to deface Canvas login portals across hundreds of...
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New BlackFile Extortion Group Linked to Surge of Vishing
A newly tracked financially motivated threat group called BlackFile has been conducting data theft and extortion campaigns against retail and hospitality...
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ADT Confirms Data Breach After ShinyHunters Leak Threat
Home security giant ADT has confirmed a data breach after the ShinyHunters extortion group threatened to publish stolen data unless a ransom is paid,...
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Former DigitalMint Ransomware Negotiator Pleads Guilty to $75.3M Extortion Scheme
Angelo Martino, a former ransomware payment negotiator for DigitalMint, has pleaded guilty to helping accomplish extort $75.3 million in ransom from five...
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Nike Hit by Data Breach: 1.4 TB of Supply Chain Data Leaked
WorldLeaks extortion group claims responsibility for a data breach on Nike, allegedly exposing 1.4 terabytes of internal data including supply chain and...