Japan's GMO Internet Group is offering up to $1 million for actionable tips following a security breach on its Desktop Cloud service that potentially affected nearly 27,000 servers.
After rejecting a $50 million extortion demand, the company confirmed unauthorized access, data exfiltration, and downstream account compromises, prompting a public reward program.
The attack and the consequences for users
The problem was discovered on October 20, when unknown individuals were found to have installed malicious programs on computers of the Onamae.com Desktop Cloud service, which hosts Windows computers for financial transactions. The company shut down thousands of servers, and confirmed on October 24 that the perpetrators had gained access to customer information.
The attackers demanded a ransom of about $50 million from the company on October 21, but GMO refused to pay. The attackers then published material claiming to be about the company and its customers, which led to the closure of their website on October 28. At the same time, they used login details found on the servers to make unauthorized connections and transactions on user accounts. Brokerage firms such as OANDA Japan and FXTF have reported similar incidents.
The reward for identifying the perpetrators
To gather evidence, GMO opened a special reward program on October 28. The money will be given only if the information officially leads to an arrest or an international arrest warrant. At the same time, the company is offering compensation to its current users for actual losses from unauthorized transactions, as well as amounts for cases where types of personal information were exposed.
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