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Hackers use Black Mirror tactics on Ashley Madison users years later

The third episode of the third season of Black Mirror has seemingly served as inspiration for a group of miscreants targeting folks who had their data compromised in the Ashley Madison hack several years ago.

We say this because folks who had their data compromised by hackers back in 2015 are now receiving emails demanding payment, or their affiliation with the site will be exposed to friends, family and the public at large.

The emails contain information that was gleaned in the Ashley Madison breach so many years ago.

“From top to bottom, the emails are highly personalized with information from the Ashley Madison data breach. The subject includes the target’s name and bank. The body includes everything from the user’s bank account number, telephone number, address, and birthday, to Ashley Madison site info such as their signup date and answer to security questions,” writes email security firm Vade Secure.

An example of the emails being sent to victims.

The attachment in the example above is not a mistake. Vade Secure reports that the blackmailers are using a password protected PDF to avoid email filters and reach the intended recipient.

The blackmailers are demanding 0.1188 Bitcoin (approximately R16 000 at time of writing) or the information will be released to the public.

As far as the frequency of these extortion attempts, Vade Secure predicts an uptick in the number of these emails.

“In the last week, Vade Secure has detected several hundred examples of this extortion scam, primarily targeting users in the United States, Australia, and India. Seeing that more than 32 million accounts were made public as a result of the Ashley Madison data breach, we expect to see many more in the coming weeks,” the firm said.

As the firm points out, the resurgence of this scam shows that data breaches are almost never a “one and done” situation. Should you find these sorts of emails in your inbox its best to ignore them and not to pay the ransom.

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