GMO Internet Group said on Oct. 27 that customer data from its foreign-exchange trading service had been published online after the company refused to pay hackers a $50 million ransom, according to group president Masatoshi Kumagai.
The Japanese internet conglomerate disclosed on Oct. 21 that a third party had gained unauthorized access to Onamae.com Desktop Cloud, a service customers use for automated FX trading. Attackers installed malicious software on the servers and stole customer data, the company said. Some customers later found transactions in their trading accounts that they had not made.
The hackers demanded $50 million, or about 7.9 billion yen, threatening to publish the stolen data if the ransom went unpaid. GMO Internet said in a statement: “GMO has made clear that it will not comply with the attackers' demands.”
After the deadline passed, the attackers carried out their threat and GMO Internet confirmed that customers' personal information had been exposed. The company brought in cybersecurity firm Trend Micro to investigate and asked the public not to share the leaked data on social media to avoid further harm.
GMO Internet has not disclosed the attackers' identity, the number of affected customers or the scope of the exposed data. The investigation is ongoing.
