Bitcoin Forum

Insomniac Games has been the victim of a cyberattack by the Rhysida hacker group, and is allegedly demanding a ransom with a starting price of 50 bitcoins - worth more than $2 million. While the Rhysida hackers have given Insomniac a week to respond to their demands, the alleged cyber attackers have already started auctioning data to the highest bidder, starting at 50 BTC.

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Source= https://decrypt.co/209478/hackers-demand-2-million-in-bitcoin-after-stealing-insomniac-games-data-report

So they want to get the 50 bitcoins anyway, either by paying the ransom or by selling the data themselves. What I hate about this kind of news is that bitcoin is in the media linked to scammers and hackers, which does not give a good image. Just as the media does not usually help because when the price was lower they criticized Bukele for buying bitcoin for El Salvador and now they are silent. I am referring to the main mass media.

Your thread title is also as misleading as what we see on news sites: "Hackers claim $2 million in bitcoin" is different from hackers demanding $2 million in bitcoin.

Your topic title made me see the entire situation, like the hackers already got their hands on the bitcoin, which makes me almost want to ask if there were some bitcoin wallets linked to the game data that were stolen.
 
But why do hackers always go for bitcoin as demand? Why not ask for other coins that could also be used and exchanged for whatever they want without being traced? There are coins like Monero (XMR), which is a highly recommended privacy coin.

Why is it always bitcoin? Making the news and headlines look like bitcoin is always used for illegal things, and all of that as if it's the only coin that could be used by criminals and it won't be traced.

And I even read that Rhysida has leaked some of the info already in their onion site, albeit blurring the information of those individuals that have been compromised. And then some of the Wolverine pics.

So it's going to be very difficult for the company to just pay those hackers though. Because they don't have the bargaining power, and even if they pay the ransom there is no assurance that the hackers are not going to leak the information as well.

And no one deserves his data to be leaked to the public and being used by this cyber criminals.

I notice that too.

The fact that Bitcoin is the major request that hackers demand is still surprising, I would have love to ask why but who will I ask? You and I are just here discussing and non of is the hacker so nobody would be able to answer that question.

The way bloggers and news sites releases news concerning Bitcoin makes it sound as if Bitcoin was the crime itself instead of the actual scenario. Rhysiada hackers got of Insomniac and demands Bitcoin as payment if it was just $2 million dollar cash that was requested it would have not sound so big but since it's Bitcoin the media will take it so serious like Bitcoin was the crime.

Like I have said before, if you ask me or OP or any other person who would answer the question? Non of us here is in the Rhysiada group how can we answer what we don't know.

As far as I am aware, games are built in studios, on local computers and how are hackers able to access their data? Do they have bad network security? I don't want to believe that they upload files on third party clouds because these files are very sensitive and these leaks include not only game files but personal data, including U.S. passport scans and etc.

Because bitcoin is popular and gains attention when you include Bitcoin in article's name instead of Monero. They'll know how to hide traces, so it's not something we have to worry about.

According to news link you provided the number of hacked fund is more than 60 million and I think asking for 50 btc or 2 million is not a big deal and Insomniac Games team should give this amount as a bug bounty with wholeheartedly. I don't why any gaming or any online crypto project test several security test both private and public before going to launch mainnet. Now they have Devolpers and Participants both in trouble.

As far asking btc, I think it is not wise idea because they will later use mixer for hiding transaction and Bitcoin hitters (bank) will once again open mouth that btc is using for Black money.

It's a huge company, and while I'm not big on gaming, I've played some of their games. They're very rich (because they're owned by Sony which has an annual profit around $88B), so it's not surprising they were targeted, and 50 BTC is nothing for a company like this. Starting to auction data before the deadline for the ransom, however, is very inappropriate.
It's not surprising that Bitcoin is used in this situation, but considering that transactions are all publicly available, perhaps this money can be traced in the future and help bring the hackers to justice.

Yes. You understood correctly. That is what the OP says. In fact, you have pretty much repeated 50% of the OP:


Nice one ::)


I think the market is way past valuing in the "black money" and the "bitcoin is for criminals" news. At this point, this kind of news is only to keep retail investors out, to miss out on the wealth opportunity. That's their own doing and MSM probably make them say/do so much worse than not getting in Bitcoin.


Essentially, they have made at least 50 BTC. Someone will bid for at least 50 BTC, the data is worth a lot more...or, Isomniac will pay the ransom. Either way, 50BTC minimum for the group.


Hackers probably want to make it easier for the ransom payer. Many exchanges have already dropped Monero and other privacy coins in a bid against "money laundering" (rather a bid against privacy). Companies can access and distribute Bitcoin much easier. It probably could even come under the balance sheet liability/insurances as well at this stage, given it is a commodity (don't quote me on the latter though just a logical thought with little base).


they'll pay it under the table, and all will be forgotten (my guess, anyway).

This news is troubling because Bitcoin has frequently been linked to hacking incidents, even when it is not directly involved. Hackers often demand payment in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in order to maintain their anonymity. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies makes it difficult to track transactions and identify those responsible. As a result, Bitcoin has gained a negative reputation and is now often associated with illegal activities and cybercrime.

With the recent closure of many mixing services, mixing 50 Bitcoins efficiently may require a fee of about 4% and then trusting a central party that it will mix your currencies correctly and that it will get rid of the logs, which is a big risk.
Isn't it easier to obtain it in Monero, run a platform to sell Monero for Bitcoin, and get Bitcoin legally and privately?

This is concerning and distressing. The gaming community has always been a close-knit and supportive one, and it's disconcerting to see such malicious activities affecting a reputable game developer. How can they effectively address this issue and recover from the attack? Do they need to succumb to the hacker’s demands? Cybersecurity remains an ongoing challenge, it's targeting the crypto industry, recently it was the exchangers and other DeFi platforms, and now this. They need to enhance the digital security measures.

They are hackers, they found a vulnerability and stole the data for which they are asking for 50 Bitcoin. They would know what alternate options they have in case Bitcoin mixers are not affordable for them. They might have other options like using the darknet to swap their Bitcoin for something else. Not all hackers hack for money if they do it then they would have a secondary plan in place. I do not know why we are so fixated on Bitcoin mixers and associate them with crime. They were created to make Bitcoin more private than what it is now and it is a piece of news, let's wait for further development.

They are just rushing towards releasing without any advance checking of their security because they just want to get some money from their users and players as soon as possible and the result is this kind of tragedy which leads to their game date being compromised. This may also lead to some confusion because those who are hostile to bitcoins are not stopping from throwing rocks against Bitcoin, this will be another opportunity for them to add their lies and propaganda to further slow the progress of the financial freedoms with bitcoins.

Ransomware operator Rhysida has been carrying out successful hacks recently. It was reported that they hacked the British Library and even compromised the security of a hospital in the United Kingdom. Organisations should also ensure they put the right security in place to protect data from hacks. It is cheaper to protect the system than to pay ransom. One day these criminals will be arrested and will pay for the crimes they have committed. 

Do you see it as an arrangement to give Bitcoin a bad name? Maybe it could be part of the media war against Bitcoin. I am also receiving the news with scepticism, but this is not the first time hackers have demanded ransom in Bitcoin. Maybe they have already prepared diverse means of collecting the ransom without a trace. I also doubt if this news will be able to give Bitcoin a bad reputation because criminals also use other currencies for their activities.

It's not always Bitcoin. But perhaps it's a recognition of the fact that Bitcoin is, in fact, the most widely accepted currency in the world. Someone forgot to tell them it's a lot more traceable than regular money though...

You're right of course, this is the typical misleading headline that makes you think this equates Bitcoin to crime. No one demonises the US dollar -- by and large the most popular ransom currency.

Well, they demand bitcoin simply because it's untraceable. Yes,  bitcoin has nothing to do with this thing, but the thing is, people or hackers like the group mentioned taking advantage of the advanced technology of bitcoin to ensure that no one could track them. They used bitcoin to hide where the money goes or who's going to receive it. This indicates that the hackers are knowledgeable about bitcoin, and that's why they are using it for their own good. That's exactly why bitcoin or cryptocurrency is still hard to accept by the government, as no one owns it and no one could manipulate it. That's why many people are using it for crimes. I'm not against bitcoin; in fact, I'm a long-time investor in this coin, but yeah, let's not ignore the fact that bitcoin is being used in multiple crimes.

True, they haven’t gotten the money yet, But if you look at the logic, it appears that they have the money anyways because they are already auctioning it for 50BTC. Anyways, it is not always Bitcoin. It is just that there are a lot of bad news around Bitcoin already. so you reading this triggers the idea that Bitcoin has been used for too many legal things, but there are other currencies that has been used too, The US dollar can testify to that. It’s sad that it’s happening to Bitcoin quite often but I think it’s unstoppable as there is no regulation or centralization.

Media are keen to negative events for reporting.  Since media found out that reporting negative events caters to more readers than with positive events.  So we should not be surprised to see the main media focusing on the negative events done not only using Bitcoin as a tool of payment and many other negative incidents.


They are in the process of auctioning the data, more or less they still don't hold any amount in exchange of the data yet.  I wonder what would be the reaction of the company knowing that the hackers are betraying them by auctioning the data even before the negotiation has no result yet.

It is possible that the hacker can earn twice here, after the ransom is given, they can always sell the data to people secretly.

Although it could worry HODLers that it might affect the price of their Bitcoin negatively, the news actually illustrates that Bitcoin is working as intended, and it's very VERY good in what it does. Plus does Bitcoin really need a "clean image"? I believe not. It's a technological tool that's neither good nor bad, and apolitical.

Another question many people ask is "why do hackers use Bitcoin instead of a privacy coin"? The answer might be because the hackers know that it would be easier for the victim to have access to Bitcoin than a privacy coin.

Well I don't know how good the insomniac teams are, the hackers are very stupid for asking for Bitcoin, there is no way that BTC will be useful for them, that depends on the insomniac team again, they can't play this same game with CZ and win, BTC can always be followed and bursted, they seem to care about BTC not not knowing that its not as anonymous like Monero, which of cos could have been a better option for them instead of asking for BTC, idiots.

Its true that they are just going to make the gullible people who don't understand a lot about crypto to use this as another excuse why they keep saying that crypto is what criminals and terrorists use to carry out their bad activities, lack of knowledge is really affecting a lot of these people, even those in the governments around the world too.

There is nothing that can't be use in crimes as far as its valuable, either Bitcoin or gold or Fiat, they are very useable for criminal activities, the Fiat that they are avoiding son as to not get exposed is still be most used in criminal activities, not Bitcoin.

To be honest, I am not even sure who would be interested in adquiring this data.
We are talking about the data of a video game developing studio, the only client which I think there would be interested in participating in this auction would be some other small or medium video game studios which wished to learn from a big studio like insomniac games.
Anyways,.if there is a reason to learn from all of it is that Sony Playstation has a lot to learn about cyber security, I believe this is the second huge data leak which Sony Playstation has suffered in this year.

Am I the only one who believes the price they are asking is exaggerated? That is the price tag I would expect to see for stuff like government confidential information, instead comercial information about video games.

I have the feeling that they are just indeed exaggerating and for sure they will only settle for much less if somebody will truly be interested on this.
I also don't think that's not worth that much to auction such game data in that amount.
Maybe they are trying to siphon money as much as they can, so they started their bid at a higher price.
Of course, in reality, they can even settle for less than $1M in cold cash. They are just making a publicity out of it also.

Well the thing is, if bitcoin was non-existent in this case these hackers will still find a way to smuggle the goods and the money without having to worry about getting caught. Bitcoin just so happened to be the perfect money order for this situation and I hate that it's getting the brunt of the blow despite the fact that the hackers are supposed to be the ones that are getting the flak. Like do you hate the gun for allowing people to shoot other people? No, we hate the people behind the firearm, why can't we apply the same principle to something that is as simple as bitcoin? I just can't wrap my fucking head around it lol.

Insomniac's already in a loss here, whether they give in to the demands or not their source codes already toast. I just hope they learn their lessons like CD projekt red and actually invest in a more robust security system .

Though, to be fair I have also read there is some actual personal data of Sony imployers being sold in that bundle, like passports, addresses, names and curricula viate.
That information is still not even close to that price they are asking for. In my opinion, they are asking for that amount not to actually find a buyer, they may be doing it to apply pressure on Sony and the rest of the developing studios, so they feel compelled to pay to the criminals. Though, to be their efforts will be fruitless, according the the law of the United States (and probably those in the European Union) does not allow people and companies to pay random to cyber criminals.

I am expecting those cybecrimals to end up decreasing the price of the information and end up selling it for like 10 BTC or even less than that.

Okay, here we go again that the media will sensualize Bitcoin because a ransomware group asks for money with the data that they've hacked from a company. What if the group demands a paycheck through bank transfers? Obviously, they won't put the currency there as it's just the amount that's being asked.

Depending on the data they have, I have no idea with insomniac but if it seems to be that much and important for them, that's probably the estimation cost of the group of its importance.

another demand  of large amount from hackers , recently Poloniex  offering a million dollars
to the hackers and now hackers are demanding worth 2 million dollars in bitcoin ., looks like hackers are
getting richer as they only need knowledge and not to use physicality . but I think that Insomniac is in
the verge of losing their company then because assurance is nothing even if they pay this demand.