DarkBit, the group that claimed responsibility for a ransomware attack on Israel’s Technion University, is following through on its threat to sell the university’s data after the ransom went unpaid.
Furthermore, DarkBit is offering the data of individual faculties and departments at prices ranging from 1 bitcoin (about $28,500) for civil and environmental engineering data to 40 bitcoins for data from the computer science department. DarkBit also has other Technion data available.
In February, the university suffered a ransomware attack, which forced it to block all communication networks.
DarkBit claimed that the university was hacked to make Israel pay for “Occupation, war crimes against humanity, killing the people (not only Palestinians’ bodies, but also Israelis’ souls) and destroying the future and all dreams we had.”
Additionally, DarkBit said that the university should pay for firing high-skilled experts.
The group had originally demanded 80 bitcoins as ransom from the university, which would go up by 30% if the ransom was not received within 48 hours, and threatened to put the data on sale within 5 days. In the end, it waited over a month.
Established in 1912, Haifa-based Technion—otherwise known as the Israel Institute of Technology—has become a global pioneer in fields such as biotechnology, stem cell research, space, computer science, nanotechnology, and energy.
The university has contributed to the growth of Israel’s high-tech industry and innovation, including the country’s technical cluster in Silicon Wadi. Four Technion professors have won Nobel Prizes.
