Recent corporate hacking scandals have demonstrated how security breaches can lead to exposure of consumer’s private information. Now hackers have taken the next step, by using their hacked information as leverage to demand payment from a hacked corporation.
The British telecommunications company TalkTalk confirmed this week that hackers had contacted them with a ransom demand, according to the New York Times. The hackers are believed to have taken private information from some portion of the company’s files on its four million users.
British police are investigating and have not confirmed if they believe that the group that contacted the company is actually responsible for the hacking or if the demand is credible. This is the third time in a year that TalkTalk’s security has been breached by hackers.
Upcoming new rules in Europe call on companies to alert privacy authorities within three days of discovering digital security breaches. Other companies that have been recent targets of high-profile hacking cases include Target, Home Depot, Ashley Madison and JPMorgan Chase.
In some cases, hackers make use of “ransomware,” software designed to encrypt or lock a computer until the user meets the hackers demands. Such software has been deployed in many attacks on individual users, the hackers targeting TalkTalk are believed to be demanding payment in exchange for not making the stolen information public.
TalkTalk is concerned that the stolen information may include credit card details, dates of birth and addresses of some of its customers.