Fidelity won’t pay Trump hackers’ ransom demand

| 22/09/2015 | 1 Comment
Cayman News Service

Donald Trump

(CNS): A group of internet hackers has reportedly stole data from some of Fidelity Bank’s website but the bank has stated that it will not be paying the ransom of $30,000 demanded by the online crooks, who say they want the cash to support Donald Trump’s bid for the US presidency. The group calling itself “Hack for Trump” claims it has successfully stolen sensitive data, which they plan to publish unless they are paid $30,000, according to an email sent to local and international media.

The group admitted that they did not access customer data but said they had managed to gather confidential details about the bank, as well as hundreds of emails sent by prospective and existing customers. The Bahamas-based bank, which has a branch in Cayman, took the websites down last week but Fidelity’s chairman, Andrew Sunderji, said that the bank will not be paying the group.

“We’re not going to pay them $30,000. It’s blackmail, a shakedown,” he said.

The data theft on behalf of the billionaire property tycoon, TV personality and White House hopeful was reported to the police but the bank was confident that the hackers have not accessed anything of significance

“The bank’s websites are hosted by a third party vendor and only used for marketing and general customer inquiries,” bank officials said in a statement last week. “Fidelity has analyzed the websites that were reportedly hacked and they hold minimal client information. While the bank understands that there is the potential that a very small number of customers may have emailed the bank via the website … given that the server accessed was the bank’s vendor’s server, the potential exposure is very minor.”

Fidelity said only the vendor was compromised, none of Fidelity’s secure servers were impacted and no security details were affected.

“We will continue to monitor our own servers and will continue to ensure that appropriate internet security measures are in place.  In the meantime, we urge our customers to be extra vigilant and to call our customer service department in case of doubt,” the bank added.

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Category: Finance, Financial Services, ICT, Technology

Comments (1)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Saying the hack is quote on behalf of Trump unquote implies an actual relationship with the Trump campaign. Pretty shoddy reporting.

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