Indictment against Israeli "cyber expert": Paid hackers - and charged client 18 times more

An indictment was filed in the US against Zohar Pinhasi, owner of MonsterCloud, accused of defrauding clients who hired his services to release files from hackers. According to the indictment, Pinhasi paid attackers low sums and charged clients several times higher amounts, while falsely presenting advanced decryption methods.

An indictment was filed in the US against Zohar Pinhasi (50), an Israeli-American citizen and owner of MonsterCloud, accused of defrauding companies that hired his services to release files locked by hackers. According to the indictment, Pinhasi presented himself as an expert in ransomware attacks and promised the use of "advanced decryption methods," but in fact contacted the attackers, paid them, and received the decryption key. In one case, a client paid the company about $150,000, while Pinhasi paid the attacker about $8,200. The indictment describes another case where he paid attackers about $236,000 and charged the client about $380,000. The prosecution claims that hundreds of companies in the US and Canada paid the company more than $19 million, while more than $8 million was transferred to attackers. Pinhasi was brought to court in Brooklyn in handcuffs, pleaded not guilty, and was released on $2 million bail. The maximum penalty is 20 years in prison for each count.