Kevin Helms
An Austrian economics student, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and the intersection of economics and cryptography.
Insurance Company sued for refusing to cover $ 7.5 million Bitcoin ransom – Featured Bitcoin News
A British goldsmith has sued his insurance company for refusing to cover a ransom payment of bitcoin of 7.5 million dollars. The goldsmith paid the hackers to prevent sensitive customer data from being published.
Insurance companies are facing lawsuits for refusing to cover Bitcoin ransom
A luxury British jeweler, Graff, has sued his insurance company, The Travelers Companies, for refusing to cover a ransom payment of bitcoin, Bloomberg reported last week.
The goldsmith paid a bitcoin ransom of $ 7.5 million to the Russian hacker gang Conti after the group threatened to leak data from the company’s large customers, including royals in the Middle East. Graff negotiated the ransom with the hackers and managed to reduce it from $ 15 million.
Conti attacked Graff in September last year and leaked data on the royal families from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. The hackers apologized to the families, but said they might have to leak more of Graff’s data.
“Our goal is to publish as much of Graff’s information as possible regarding the economic declarations of the neoliberal plutocracy between the United States, Britain and the EU, which engage in eerily expensive purchases when their nations crumble under economic coercion,” the hacker group reported. so.
Although the authorities have discouraged individuals and businesses from paying ransom, there are circumstances where it is beneficial to pay them, especially when the damage caused by a cyber attack is greater than the cost of the ransom.
Some insurance companies offer cyber insurance that covers the payment of ransom. However, experts have warned that insurance companies inadvertently finance organized crime by paying claims from companies that have paid ransom.
Ciaran Martin, founding CEO of the British National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), explained last year that “People pay bitcoin to criminals and demand money back.” He emphasized: “I see this as so unavoidable. At the moment, companies have incentives to pay ransom to make sure everything disappears. You need to look seriously at changing the law on insurance and banning these payments, or at least having a major consultation with the industry. “
Regarding Graff’s ransom, a spokesman for the company said: “The criminals threatened with targeted publication of our customers’ private purchases. We were determined to take all possible steps to protect their interests and negotiated a payment that successfully neutralized the threat. “
The jewelry company added:
We are extremely frustrated and disappointed with travelers’ attempts to avoid settling this insured risk. They have given us no choice but to take these recycling cases to the Supreme Court.
Do you think insurance companies should cover ransom for bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.
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