The personal information of thousands of Israelis was compromised Saturday following a cyberattack on the database of a major Israeli financial services firm.
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According to a report in Walla News, "BlackShadow," the same group that carried out a cyberattack on the Shirbit insurance company in December, managed to breach the database of KLS Capital, which has over 26,000 clients.
"Their servers are down and we have all their clients' information," the group wrote on the Telegram instant messaging platform.
According to reports, the hackers demanded a 1.9 million shekel ($570,000) ransom in bitcoin, which KLS refused to pay.
According to BlackShadow, following 72 hours of failed negotiations, they began to leak thousands of the company's documents, including clients' driver-license photos, ID numbers – including that of the CEO – client, and copies of checks.
"Approximately three days ago, the National Cyber Security Authority contacted KLS Capital and warned of a possible cyber-attack on the company," the firm, founded 20 years ago, said in a statement, adding that the strike was similar to others carried out by Iran in the past, where Israeli government, civil and private institutions were targeted.
The company acted immediately to protect its servers and worked together with the National Cyber Directorate to investigate the incident, the statement said.
"It is not yet known how much information had been revealed and the company will be in touch with its clients based on findings."
The NCD issued a statement calling on companies to take the necessary steps to prevent cyberattacks and take responsibility for their clients' information.
Ido Naor, founder and CEO of cybersecurity company Security Joes explained that BlackShadow "did not change its pattern" with its latest attack.
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"This group brands itself as anti-Zionist and it aims to create political propaganda. This attack shows that the hackers are not trying to breach a significant target, or they simply lack the skills to do so."
He further noted that "we've recently seen some very dangerous vulnerabilities in the Microsoft email exchange that are used, time and again, by skilled hackers. Still, Blackshadow didn't opt for that route. It's hard to believe that another cyberattack will resonate as much as the first one did."
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
