alt Hacker NewsThere’s a similar dynamic from within the hacker group itself. For the ransom group, it is better for them to be perceived as trustworthy. Pay the ransom and we won’t leak your data.
For any individual within the ransom group, they can get a big payout by selling the data.
Replies
MagicMoonlight • yesterday at 6:07 PM
I don’t know if that’s really true. Nobody would really give a shit if you leaked where everyone goes to college… because it’s already on their LinkedIn or whatever.
The only people it’s valuable for is the ransomee, because they don’t want the reputational hit of having their data everywhere.
bradyd • yesterday at 6:28 PM
> For the ransom group, it is better for them to be perceived as trustworthy.
They've already proved themselves to be untrustworthy simply by ransoming you in the first place.
Depends on what they actually got. Names and email addresses? Considered public and are not so valuable. Universities usually publish those in a directory anyway.
Messages between students and instructors? Likely pretty boring, but possibly embarassing or confidential for a given individual.
Grades? Could be a FERPA violation.
Critical PII such as SSNs? Probably not in the LMS to begin with.