Luxury jeweler Graff Diamonds pays Bitcoin worth $ 7.5 million in ransom to Russian hackers
(Kitco News) A damaging ransom attack has forced luxury British jeweler Graff Diamonds to pay $ 7.5 million in Bitcoin to a group of Russian hackers, a lawsuit in London revealed.
In case of non-payment, a group of hackers threatened to leak the private data of the goldsmith’s high-profile customers. Graff is known for his famous clientele, including Oprah Winfrey, the Sultan of Brunei and royalty from the Middle East.
Graff is suing his insurance company, Travelers, for refusing to cover ransom, and that’s how more information about the hack came out. Graff maintains that the payment should have been covered by insurance.
The hack took place in September 2021, with the ransomware group Conti taking responsibility and leaking data. The attack was somewhat unusual, and Conti apologized to Graff’s clients from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, while also threatening to leak more data.
“We found that our sample data was not properly reviewed until it was uploaded to the blog,” the hackers wrote back in October. “Conti guarantees that all information related to members of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar families will be deleted without any exposure or review. Our team apologizes to His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman and all other members of the royal family whose names were mentioned in the publication for any inconvenience. “
Among the leaked data was private information about celebrities such as David Beckham, Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump, The Daily Mail reported last year.
In November, Graff ended up paying half of Conti’s original claim, which was Bitcoin worth $ 15 million. The cryptocurrency was transferred to a Bitcoin wallet at a time when the digital currency was around its all-time high of $ 69,000.
“The criminals threatened the targeted publication of our customers’ private purchases,” a spokesman for Graff said. “We were determined to take all possible steps to protect their interests and therefore negotiated a payment that successfully neutralized the threat.”
According to the spokesperson, Graff is “extremely frustrated and disappointed with travelers’ attempts to avoid settling this insured risk. They have given us no choice but to bring these recycling cases to the Supreme Court.”
Graff was founded in 1960 by billionaire Laurence Graff, who is now worth $ 5.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
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