Argentina’s telecommunications hacked, demands Monero for ransom

[Yaunfitda]

Argentina’s telecommunications hacked and called for rescue in Monero
by Amber Baxter July 19, 2020
Telecommunications, Argentina’s largest telecommunications company was the victim of a ransomware attack as reported by several users on Twitter. Hackers are demanding $ 7.5 million in Monero (XMR), an amount that would increase to 15 million if the company doesn’t pay in less than 48 hours.

https://www.europeworldnews.com/argentinas-telecommunications-hacked-and-called-for-rescue-in-monero

It's interesting that the hackers are now demanding Monero, instead of the usual BTC which is the mode of ransom for many such attacks. Its for $7.5 million, and that is huge amount, I don't know if the company are willing to comply though, so let's see how things will turn out.

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[milesfull]

At least they smart enough to ask monero instead of btc

[Jating]

^^, yeah, I agree that it seems strange that the hacker suddenly switch their demand from bitcoin to monero. Maybe they don't want to go to another layer of using mixers or any another conjoin services because of the risk of Chainalysis.

Perhaps they need to assessed what data this the criminals get but for sure, names/addresses/personal info of their customers. If they don't pay, then for sure we will find this data being sold on the darkweb.

[Princejebs]

Argentina’s telecommunications hacked and called for rescue in Monero
by Amber Baxter July 19, 2020
Telecommunications, Argentina’s largest telecommunications company was the victim of a ransomware attack as reported by several users on Twitter. Hackers are demanding $ 7.5 million in Monero (XMR), an amount that would increase to 15 million if the company doesn’t pay in less than 48 hours.

https://www.europeworldnews.com/argentinas-telecommunications-hacked-and-called-for-rescue-in-monero

It's interesting that the hackers are now demanding Monero, instead of the usual BTC which is the mode of ransom for many such attacks. Its for $7.5 million, and that is huge amount, I don't know if the company are willing to comply though, so let's see how things will turn out.

This attack and hacks is ruining the reputation of Bitcoin. Last time, it was some group of hackers demanding BTC on Twitter.

Believe me, in one way or the other, US and many developed countries will find it difficult to recognize crypto as friendly investments. The privacy afforded by Monero has done more harm than good especially in dark web.

[AjithBtc]

Ransomware attacks have decreased alot compared to the past. This shows the security level of networks getting stronger and stronger with time. A telecommunications network hack is really a big thing, because communication is the basic for everything happening all around. The value that has been demanded by the network of hackers is big, and deadline too is short. These kind of attacks cause bad image on the entire cryptocurrency network.

[Rodeo02]

Must be hard for Telecommunications to even try to contact Monero, I doubt Monero could find a solution for this attack. It was the ransomware attack after all so they have to pay to keep their data. What could Monero do?

Lol monero is the one they Asked to receive as mode of payment for a ransom . They use monero To make it difficult for them to track the transaction unlike bitcoin , it's wise decision for hacker but the question is Whether the telecomunication service will bite it or they will look for another way to have access again . The money asked is not small so it will hard for them to decide.

[aprilnot]

It seems like the hacker this time wants the coins to not be tracked easily. indeed it is difficult to trace the flow of funds if using Monero.

After the Twitter incident some time ago, I think the hacking problem involving crypto right now is really worrying.

[pilosopotasyo]

Argentina’s telecommunications hacked and called for rescue in Monero
by Amber Baxter July 19, 2020
Telecommunications, Argentina’s largest telecommunications company was the victim of a ransomware attack as reported by several users on Twitter. Hackers are demanding $ 7.5 million in Monero (XMR), an amount that would increase to 15 million if the company doesn’t pay in less than 48 hours.

https://www.europeworldnews.com/argentinas-telecommunications-hacked-and-called-for-rescue-in-monero

It's interesting that the hackers are now demanding Monero, instead of the usual BTC which is the mode of ransom for many such attacks. Its for $7.5 million, and that is huge amount, I don't know if the company are willing to comply though, so let's see how things will turn out.

This is the first time I read about using Monero on hacking attack there could be in the past, but they are so wise that they don't to get tracked after they received their payment, and that short period of time makes things difficult for the authorities to track them, let's see if they have a good coders that they can hire to combat the hacked or they have no choice but to pay or don't give in.

[jessyj48]

At least they smart enough to ask monero instead of btc

It's not smartness, it's stupidity still, because the victims will need to send out Monero to the hackers address, revealing their address is enough to deal with this hackers, nowadays any crypto address can get blacklisted, this hackers can still be caught or rather turn that money useless for them

[masterrex]

Thats another bad news for the crypto industry, once again the cryptocurrency was used for ransom and this time it was the privacy centred coin the Monero, and also it can give bad publicity for the entire crypto industry as well and maybe it will cause another government intervention, If that happens I hope that not the entire crypto industry will suffer, After this incident Im sure it will bring another big blow in those privacy centred coins particularly Monero and several other privacy centred cryptocurrency that exist today. thats only my opinion and Im not an expert regarding this matter.

[leea-1334]

Strange that this demands have not been more common since everybody knows by now, and especially hackers, that Bitcoin is not anonymous. Wonder now though,,, if exchanges selling that much monero still makes it easier to track. How do you buy $7m monero except at many different exchanges?

[Nalbo]

With so much tracking and centralized exchange involved with every crypto to fiat conversion, it's getting difficult for hackers to redeem their money. With monero, transaction would be difficult to track and they can easily break it into and distribute and accumulate through a series of transactions before making it white.

[AbNewton]

Did we go back the old wanna cry with crypto making headline as being used in hack and ransome attack? Last was Twitter hijack famous person and now this. Also, how come in 2020 and there are still some fools fall for ransome attack especially a national telecommunications?

[suryapro]

Switch of play, seems hackers are now doing everything to make money urgently, this is the very first am seeing hackers asking for another thing aside btc, am sure the company involved already looking for an escape route

[MikeyVeez]

It shows that hackers now more understand how blockchain works, so they do not want to be revealed in the future. But, it would be nice to realize how they plan to get money from Monero. Exchanging on OTC market?

[target]

Monero can't help them but this will really put monero in a bad light again. Its a wise choice of the hacker to use XMR though. They wanted not to be traced then its best to just use the best choice.  

It shows that hackers now more understand how blockchain works, so they do not want to be revealed in the future. But, it would be nice to realize how they plan to get money from Monero. Exchanging on OTC market?

Its still fungible in the market, I'm not sure if the exchanges can flag the wallets.
But there were discussions about excluding Monero on exchanges in the previous months but it looks like there isn;t yet a law regarding it.

[audaciousbeing]

Argentina’s telecommunications hacked and called for rescue in Monero
by Amber Baxter July 19, 2020
Telecommunications, Argentina’s largest telecommunications company was the victim of a ransomware attack as reported by several users on Twitter. Hackers are demanding $ 7.5 million in Monero (XMR), an amount that would increase to 15 million if the company doesn’t pay in less than 48 hours.

https://www.europeworldnews.com/argentinas-telecommunications-hacked-and-called-for-rescue-in-monero

It's interesting that the hackers are now demanding Monero, instead of the usual BTC which is the mode of ransom for many such attacks. Its for $7.5 million, and that is huge amount, I don't know if the company are willing to comply though, so let's see how things will turn out.

Actions like this would continue to give crypto bad name and it is something that should be condemned by everyone. I really don't get to understand why a giant company like that could be held to ransom thereby holding the millions of people who rely on the company to be functional in other for them to meet their needs to ransom.

Using monero is not even the subject of discussion but the impact to the entire crypto industry.

[Golftech]

This is the worst kind of news for these days as the market already in bad shape and now this.

This hacking news are really annoying, the market like what you have said is not in good shape for sure it will somehow affects the sentiment.

A lot of companies like Binance for example want to change image of cryptos toward positive but news like this will be dub as " crypto used by criminal for illegal activity".

That's cannot be avoided, even good companies wanted to change things, there are always negative side that will flow, criminals will always find ways to also take advantage of new system.

[aemma]

That is really a huge amount of money to be sincere, but seriously this issue of hacks and cryptocurrencies is getting out of hand, the other time it was twitter and scam giveaways, now it is a telecommunication company and Monero is being demanded for, no matter how it occurs, it is not giving the crypto space a good name.
Considering the amount of personal information passing through telecommunication companies, they might be forced to pay up to maintain their data unless they find a more better approach which will not compromise things further. Also, the demand for Monero means the hackers knows what they are doing and will probably get away with it because of the anonymity and privacy nature of Monero; if this is successful, Monero might likely be used by other hackers.

[bitgolden]

Most of the time companies do not comply with these type of offers, it is really not a smart decision because if you pay them, they could simply just not give everything back and request for more, it doesn't make sense for both the company and for hackers to request something like this because they should have seen it from companies perspective like I do.

99% of the time the company usually reaches down to the most core technological level of the situation as they can and either use a backup and lose a lot of data but still continue without trouble, or simply just move on like nothing happened with tons of losses. If you lose 7.5 million dollars to a criminal, it is worse than losing 20 million because of getting it back yourself, so companies will do their best to get it themselves without paying.