IT Admins Allegedly Offer Hackers "Naked Photos of Boss"s Secretary" in Exchange for Ransomware Decryption Keys

The infamous ransomware operatives known as the Maze Team have issued a “press release” condemning IT administrators who tried to use bribery to cover up their failure to protect their employers from hackers.
In an interesting twist, ransomware operators have not only turned to leaking victims” data if they refuse to pay, they are now humiliating their victims, adding more insult to an already massive injury.

Known for pioneering tactics such as coercing victims to pay by threatening to leak their data, the Maze Team are now upping their game by literally shaming their victims. A so called “press release” posted on the hackers” website reveals that IT administrators at various firms hit by the Maze ransomware failed to identify the hackers” entry point.

In one example, the team addresses media reports quoting security experts as saying Maze operatives used social engineering when in fact (the team suggests) they attacked their supply channel partners. An excerpt from the group”s post, complete with original typos, is reproduced below, courtesy of DataBreaches.net:

“One more word about the Security “Experts” discussing our activity and our team. We are greatly disappointed with those so called Professionals who can”t tell the difference between phishing and lateral movement. We don”t need to use phishing attacks and slowly move from one target to another as we have the access to the to the hosting provider. As long as such so called Professional will work in IT and Security we will have a lot of work.”

Some administrators contacted the team directly in an effort to reach an agreement and cover up the incident. Maze claims these IT reps made hackers the cowardly offer of access to other companies” infrastructures, likely their employers” partners. In one instance, the team claims, network administrators even offered to send them indecent photos of the boss”s secretary:

“Another word for the IT specialist and network administrators who are tring to hide the information of the data leak from the company”s executives. They are making everything just the worst. We were really shoked by the fact that some network administrators were trying to hide the leak by offering us the access to the data of other companys, access to private laptops of the company”s president or even the naked photos of their boss”es secreteary. Funny but it”s true.”

The Maze Team clarifies that ransomware is what they do and that such offers, like access to different accounts or bitcoin wallets belonging to company executives, simply won”t do:

“We are not interested in accesing accounts or bitcoin wallets of the company”s executives. We are doing what we are doing and no other proposals are accepted,” the Maze Team said.