“Shame Hacking” Liberal Groups — Is It Really Russian Hackers Doing It?

But it’s the Russians!

The ubiquitous Russians are at it again, or, so we are being told. You know, the Russian hackers who are everywhere, doing everything nefarious in the world, and victimizing poor little helpless “us” here in the United States . . .

BREAKING!

 Wikileaks: CIA ‘Stole’ Russian Malware, Uses It to ‘Misdirect Attribution’ of Cyber Attacks

‘Vault 7’: CIA Catalogues Hack Techniques Used by Other States

Hey, if it makes you feel better, sure, blame it all on the Russians … but are we talking about Russian immigrants, Russian citizens, Russian descendants, or Russian government operatives? Those pesky details always seem to take the fun out of things. But here is something that is not up for debate: shame hacking is on the rise!

YAHOO DATA BREACH – SOME FACTS & QUESTIONS (I.E., WAS IT REALLY THE RUSSIANS?)

What is Shame Hacking?

Shame hacking is the use of hacked data for embarrassing or extorting people by threatening to expose such compromising data if they do not comply with the demands made of them.

Shame hacking is one more way that cyber criminals have learned to monetize the fruits of their criminal actions and represents an increasing trend for how hacked information can and will be used for many ways.

Shame Hacking the Progressives.

According to the recent Bloomberg article, Russian Hackers Said to Seek Hush Money From Liberal Groups, “Russian hackers are targeting U.S. progressive groups in a new wave of attacks, scouring the organizations’ emails for embarrassing details and attempting to extract hush money.” For example, “[i]n one case, a non-profit group and a prominent liberal donor discussed how to use grant money to cover some costs for anti-Trump protesters.” The hackers learned of this information and then threatened to expose this activity if the groups did not pay anywhere from $30,000 to $150,000 in Bitcoin.

Other Cases of Shame Hacking.

Shame hacking is nothing new and first became prominent when the North Koreans hacked Sony and revealed the Sony executives’ embarrassing emails. Over time, this trend has gained more popularity as yet another way for hackers to monetize the fruits of their ill-gotten gains, such as in the following cases:

• DAVID BECKHAM’S EXPOSED EMAILS EXEMPLIFY SHAME HACKING THREAT
• PORN, POLITICS & CYBERSECURITY: ARE WE SEEING SHAME HACKING WITH TEXAS ELECTOR?
• BRAZZERS PORN HACK: MORE THAN JUST ACCOUNT HOLDERS EXPOSED
• YOU COULD SEE THIS ONE COMING: VIBRATOR COMPANY SUED FOR TRACKING USAGE
• YAHOO DATA BREACH – SOME FACTS & QUESTIONS (I.E., WAS IT REALLY THE RUSSIANS?)
• #SONYHACK: WILL EXECUTIVES’ EMBARRASSING EMAILS BETTER MOTIVATE CYBERSECURITY CHANGE?