I always have a decent chuckle when public figures drop the ball on social media, and then claim they were hacked when the backlash grows.

Remember Vernon Philander and that late-night ‘hack’ chirping Steve Smith? Classic case in point.

It’s less humorous when actual hackers gain access to data held by large companies like Liberty, who are caught up in the midst of a nasty blackmail situation.

The hack was first reported over the weekend, as Fin24 reported:

The company alerted clients of the data breach on Saturday evening via text messaging. [Liberty Holdings CEO David] Munro said the company alerted the authorities about the breach, which Liberty considered an “act of criminality” and extortion.

On Sunday the Sunday Times reported that extortionists wanted “millions” from the company to avoid the release of “critical information” belonging to “top clients”.

Munro [below] said the data that was affected by the breach consisted largely of recent emails from the company’s mailing service. He said the company was in the process of investigating the breach, saying the findings of such a investigation would be referred to the authorities…

Munro said the identity of the hackers was a matter of investigation and that the company could not comment. He said an extortion attempt was confirmed with payment demanded after the breach. However the company made no concession and could not disclose the amount sought.

Not ideal, although if the recent Facebook / Cambridge Analytica scandal taught us anything it’s that people aren’t that bothered about handing over their data.

How many people do you know who took up the ‘Boycott Facebook’ call? Exactly.

Fast forward to this morning, and it’s clear that Liberty isn’t keen to fork over the dough:

…it refused a ransom demand after hackers breached its information-technology infrastructure and accessed some emails.

“We did engage with the external parties involved to determine their intentions, but we made no concession in the face of this attempted extortion,” Liberty Chief Executive Officer David Munro said on Sunday in Johannesburg.

“Liberty is at an advanced stage of investigating the extent of the data breach, which at this stage, seems to be largely emails and possibly attachments.”

The threatened data leak comes as Munro pushes ahead with a turnaround of the largest provider of long-term insurance products to affluent South Africans, which has struggled to grow sales into a weak local economy.

I feel a little for Munro, who has had his hands full putting out fires these past 48 hours.

These hackers are getting craftier by the day, so here’s hoping your business (and those you do business with) have the kind of protection that can keep them at bay.

[sources:fin24&fin24]