14 DAY TRIAL // A 22-year-old hacker from North London tried to blackmail US-based tech giant Apple with what he claimed to be a large database of iCloud accounts whose content was supposed to end up online unless the company paid a ransom.
Kerem Albayrak, who said he was acting on behalf of his “Internet buddies”, was a member of hacking group Turkish Crime Family, already known for selling data obtained following a series of data breaches.
Albayrak requested Apple to pay $75,000 or one thousand $100 iTunes gift cards in exchange for deleting the stolen credentials, eventually increasing the ransom to $100,000. The hacker threatened Apple he would leak all data and reset iCloud accounts if the company refused the payment.
Albayrak promised the hacker group “a lot of media attention”
Instead of paying the ransom, the Cupertino-based tech firm reached out to law enforcement, who managed to track down the hacker and arrest him, only to discover that Albayrak wasn’t, in fact, in possession of any newly-compromised iCloud accounts. UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) says Apple confirmed the iCloud credentials had previously been exposed in other incidents and were no longer valid.
The hacker pleaded guilty to two counts of unauthorized acts with intent to impair the operation of or prevent/hinder access to a computer, and earlier this month, he also admitted to one count of blackmail. He received a two-year suspended jail term sentence on December 20, along with 300 hours of unpaid work and a ban from using electronics for six months.
“Once you get sucked into it [cyber crime], it just escalates and it makes it interesting when it’s illegal. when you have power on the internet it’s like fame and everyone respects you, and everyone is chasing that right now,” the 22-year-old hacker said.