Scam with a stolen data recovery company - caught catching a hacker.

A covert investigation revealed that stolen files recovery company in Great Britain paid the hackers to "release" the computers and then charged its customers an inflated amount.

ΑFrom now on we should be especially cautious when associating with companies that recover files and computers after a ransomware attack. Evidence from a private investigation revealed the scam of a company that paid the ransom of the hackers, who were responsible for the attack, and then charged a larger amount to its customers.

The provider, called Red Mosquito Data Recovery, specializes in recovering infected systems and has collected some excellent reviews [97% positive please] from its satisfied customers. The website even states that they offer "honest advice" to deal with ransomware attacks.

However the company now faces charges of fraud according to ProPublica. An security analyst at antivirus service provider Emsisoft used two email accounts and played both the perpetrator and the victim to expose the fraud. First, he made a fake ransomware attack on a server of his own and then sent it to Red Mosquito asking for their help.

"I do not have any backup of my files but I do not want to pay for these m @% ak! S,Wrote the researcher, Fabian Wosar, very descriptively, in his call for "help" from Red Mosquito.

The company replied that it was "very confident" about the ability to recover encrypted files. However, as the evidence shows, Red Mosquito contacted the "hacker" just two minutes after the attack with a message that simply said "How much [money do you want] for decryption?"

Wosar, pretending to be the hacker, initially demanded $ 1.200 in bitcoin but the company insisted on $ 500. In response, Wosar wrote: “$ 900. Take it or say goodbye to your files, we are not running a fundraiser (Chairity -pun intended-) here. ”

The next morning, a company spokesman wrote in the "victim" account, "I'm happy to confirm that we can recover your encrypted files." The cost; $ 3.950, more than four times the ransom price.

So far Red Mosquito has not given an answer, but this practice seems to be more widespread than was known until now. Last month, ProPublica posted a report on two companies that made payments to hackers while charging their customers more.

Obviously the ransom payment tactic is also wrong, as criminals gain the incentive to strike again. According FBI data ransomware attacks have cost about $ 3.6 million in the last year alone.

According to Emsisoft, some data recovery providers make big profits from their customers while using free tools for data recovery and virus cleaning. Emsisoft itself is one of the antivirus companies that provide free decryption tools that anyone can downloaded. Other free tools can be found at Nomoreransom.org

"There are also some decent companies that provide valuable services,"Said an Emsisoft representative in an email to PCMag. "It is important to have someone to guide you through the process, but you need to be careful who you work with and control how transparent their processes are."

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