GMO confirms shutdown of hackers’ website after data leak — The Japan Times

Japanese company GMO Internet Group confirmed the shutdown of a website that cybercriminals used to publish data allegedly stolen during an attack on its Onamae.com domain registration service. The leak could potentially affect more than 26,000 of the company’s servers, The Japan Times reports.

Ransom demand

An anonymous hacker group demanded $1 million from GMO in exchange for refraining from publishing the information. After the company refused to pay, the attackers posted data on their resource which, they claimed, belonged to a GMO client.

The published profile contained a photograph, a person’s name and address, as well as information about their internet activity, including shopping habits, financial institutions, and services they use. The hackers threatened to publish another user’s private data every day until they received the ransom.

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Company announces reward

In response, GMO offered a reward of up to $1 million for information that would help apprehend those involved in the attack and launched a website to collect reports. The company is requesting data on members of the group, the infrastructure they used, including servers and IP addresses, fund transfers, and the attackers’ methods of operation.

GMO also warned that new websites for distributing the data may appear after the primary domain was shut down. The company said it would respond to the posting, copying, or dissemination of information from such resources, including by filing criminal complaints. According to Japanese media, the Metropolitan Police Department is taking measures to protect GMO customers who may have been affected by the leak.