GMO Internet offers $1 million bounty after cloud breach
The bounty program began at noon on October 28 and seeks details on the attacker, the servers used and crypto fund flows.
GMO Internet announced on October 28 that it is offering a bounty of up to 1 million dollars for information leading to the identification and location of the attacker behind the breach of its Onamae.com Desktop Cloud service, along with the servers and IP addresses used and the flow of crypto asset funds. The program, called GMO Cybercrime Bounty, began at noon on October 28, according to dailysecu.com.
The attacker had demanded about 8 billion yen and threatened to publish customer data and carry out ransomware attacks. GMO Internet said it will not comply with those financial demands. Information obtained through illegal hacking or the purchase of stolen data is not eligible for the bounty.
A website believed to be run by the attacker posted material claiming to be GMO Internet and customer information around 12:30 on October 27. As of 1:55 p.m. that day, the threatened ransomware attack had not been confirmed. The domain of the attacker's data-publishing site was suspended around 4:00 a.m. on October 28.
Additional compensation for customers
GMO Internet said it will pay additional compensation to customers whose information is confirmed to have been published: 10,000 yen for basic information, 15,000 yen for financial and authentication information, and 25,000 yen for sensitive information, capped at 3 million yen per disclosure case. The company had already planned to pay all service customers a uniform 5,000 yen.
The investigation began after a customer inquiry on October 20, when GMO Internet found unauthorized programs installed by an outsider on some customers' server environments. Some customers also reported financial transactions on their accounts that they had not made.
Quick answers
How much is GMO Internet's bounty worth?
GMO Internet is offering up to 1 million dollars for information that leads to the attacker's identification and location, the servers and IP addresses used, and crypto asset fund flows.
What compensation are affected customers getting?
Customers whose information is confirmed published receive 10,000 yen for basic information, 15,000 yen for financial and authentication information and 25,000 yen for sensitive information, capped at 3 million yen per disclosure case. All service customers were already set to receive a uniform 5,000 yen.