A group of cyber criminals says they will release damning information about President Donald Trump unless they receive a $42 million ransom within the next week.
As pointed out by NBC News, the blackmailers made their demand in a recent blog post, but did not specify what kind of dirty they had on Trump, nor did they provide any evidence of such documents.
"The next person we'll be publishing is Donald Trump," the hackers wrote. "There's an election race going on, and we found a ton of dirty laundry. "And to you voters, we can let you know that after such a publication, you certainly don't want to see him as president."
The group is believed to be the same criminal enterprise that reportedly stole 756 GB of private data from Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sack—an entertainment law firm with a client list that includes Lady Gaga, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Ella Mai, Christina Aguilera, and Mariah Carey.
"Despite our substantial investment in state-of-the-art technology security, foreign cyberterrorists have hacked into our network and are demanding $42 million as ransom," the firm said in a statement to NBC News. "We are working directly with federal law enforcement and continue to work around the clock with the world’s leading experts to address this situation."
New Zealand-based cybersecurity firm Emsisoft said the breach was carried out by "REvil," a.k.a. "Sodinokibi." According to the Wall Street Journal the ransomware gang previously targeted Travelex, a foreign-currency exchange company,.
The White House has yet to respond to the threats.
