14 DAY TRIAL // On Thursday, we learned that extortionist hackers from the Rex Mundi collective were threatening to publish information stolen from the databases of Belgian financial institution Buy Way, unless the firm agreed to pay 20,000 EUR ($26,000).
We’ve reached out to the company’s representatives and they admit that their systems have been breached by the hackers.
However, they argue that the impact of the attack is very limited since the attackers have managed to steal only the contact information of 545 potential customers.
The company is confident that the attackers haven’t gained access to any vital business or financial data belonging to customers.
They’ve called in law enforcement authorities to investigate the breach. Furthermore, additional security measures are being rolled out to ensure that the company’s website is properly protected against future cyberattacks.
As expected, the credit company is not willing to give in to extortion.
“Buy Way has no intention to pay anything to Rex Mundi. We decided to do like this for ethical reasons and mainly because we refuse to finance crime economy,” Thierry Genard, head of compliance and litigation at Buy Way Personal Finance, told Softpedia.
According to the hackers, Buy Way has until this Saturday to pay the “ransom” money. Since they will not pay, the information will most likely be leaked on the Web.
To our knowledge, none of the companies blackmailed by Rex Mundi hackers paid up. Earlier this month, they attempted to extort $50,000 (€37,000) from Canada-based Drake International.
Other targeted companies are Webassur, Elantis, AGO Interim, Credipret and AmeriCash Advance. Despite the fact that none of them paid up, the hackers seem to be persistent in their operations.
They’re also probably very confident in their ability to hide their tracks, considering that law enforcement authorities from several countries are out looking for them.