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Security Apple

Ransomware Gang Tried To Extort Apple Hours Ahead of Tuesday Event (therecord.media) 19

An anonymous reader writes: The operators of the REvil ransomware are demanding that Apple pay a ransom demand to avoid having confidential information leaked on the dark web. The REvil crew claims it came into possession of Apple product data after breaching Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese company that is the biggest laptop manufacturer in the world and which is also one of the companies that assemble official Apple products based on pre-supplied product designs and schematics.

The REvil gang posted 21 screenshots depicting Macbook schematics and threatened to publish new data every day until May 1, or until Apple or Quanta pay the ransom demand. The extortion attempt was also perfectly timed for maximum visibility to coincide with the Spring Loaded event, where Apple announced new products and software updates.

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Ransomware Gang Tried To Extort Apple Hours Ahead of Tuesday Event

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  • by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @05:17PM (#61295444) Journal

    The REvil crew claims it came into

    I love that hacker group names are always the same style, across decades. Never change.

    • It says tried... were the drawings released? Did they get busted? What happened? Did Apple pay up?
      • They overestimated the value of schematics. In my experience you can give the whole production data pack of one factory to another factory and they will not be able to reproduce the product. There are always many bugs and omissions, no matter how many times a data pack was reviewed.
      • Did Apple pay up?

        Very unlikely. If they pay up, they have no assurance that the hackers won't demand more or release everything anyway just for the lutz. They will also be painting a huge target on their back.

        The schematics are of little value to anyone. Since no one else has A14 or M1 CPUs, schematics based on those chips are useless to them.

        Anyone who really really really wants to see the board layouts can buy a device, delaminate the board, and look at it with t 30x 'scope.

        • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

          Why would they, this is basically free advertising for Apple depending upon how many people are drawn to view the schematics.

          The proper response from Apple should be "Why we care if people see how well Apple products are made". Sure they want to keep products under development secret but ones going into production, this is more free advertising than a loss.

          Now they just have to track down the insider responsible and the more information released, the easier it will be. So Apple should taunt the extortionis

        • Even if we had absolute perfect details, and the components, I can't imagine they'd be much use. Nobody else wants to make a macbook.
        • If a hostile being has confidential info on your company, the smart thing is to just post it yourself on Twitter and say "These guys tried to extort us, well we don't give a fuck" and it rips the money right out of their hands.

  • by phalse phace ( 454635 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @05:39PM (#61295512)

    The REvil gang posted 21 screenshots depicting Macbook schematics and threatened to publish new data every day until May 1, or until Apple or Quanta pay the ransom demand.

    What a bunch of n00bs.

    They tried to scare Apple into paying the ransom by threatening to release details for upcoming products? What rock have these people been living under?

    Details, prototypes, and mock-ups for upcoming Apple products and services almost always leak out before official announcement and they will continue to get leaked regardless of whether or not REvil does it, so there is zero reason for Apple to pay a ransom.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      I am the extortionist. All I wanted was for Tim Apple to fix the handwriting recognition on my Newton. Is that too much to ask?

  • Stupid (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @05:42PM (#61295520)

    Too big a target, too big a threat and a target with teeth that can and will fight back. I expect this is the end of this group of greedy morons.

    Smart criminals make sure they are never more than a nuisance, never a real threat.

    • by jythie ( 914043 )
      Eh, I think 'minor nuisance' that gets paid to go away is what they were hoping for.
      • Re:Stupid (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Dixie_Flatline ( 5077 ) <vincent@jan@goh.gmail@com> on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @06:30PM (#61295688) Homepage

        Apple likes spending its money to nuke people from orbit. They could've given up on their battles with Samsung years sooner, but Jobs was happy to spend money just to aggravate them. They should've known better than this. Apple will be sad to miss the opportunity to talk about things on stage for the first time, but this is hardly a company-destroying event. They'll take it on the chin and probably make some Quanta Computer executives VERY sad.

    • Apple is like, what, one of the top 10 intelligence targets in the entire world? Maybe top 3 if you are mostly interested in the private information of affluent Westerners?

      I would kind of expect Apple has a pretty decent set of security resources available to them, including former/present Mossad, MI6, CIA and various other freelancers from both sides of the tracks.

      Trying to blackmail Apple is like trying to blackmail an actual modern, decent sized country, and that's before they get the benefits of the ac

  • However, they're not above letting REvil pay to be added to it.

  • by 4pins ( 858270 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @11:32PM (#61296164) Homepage

    screenshots depicting Macbook schematics

    Whatever you do, do not send them to Louis Rossmann (hihi@rossmanngroup.com) that would be morally and ethically wrong.

    Don't believe me, hear it from his own mouth [youtube.com].

    You have been warned!

  • This is so big threat, I hope nobody will be affected by this

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