Hackers leak customer data after firm refuses to pay ransom

Hacking collective “Rex Mundi” has leaked a batch of personal and financial information belonging to individuals who have applied for loans with online loan provider AmeriCash Advance, after the company refused to pay $15,000 to prevent that from happening.

The batch contained the names and e-mail addresses of the applicants, as well as the last four digits of their Social Security numbers and the amount they requested on loan.

“The section of the system that the criminals hacked into was the automatic e-mail responder section, the part of the system that sends an auto-reply to an applicant that their application has been received,” stated AmeriCash Advance for CNet, prompting the hackers to deny the claim on their Twitter account and say that the accessed page was one generating reports for the company’s affiliates.

The company also shared that they received a fax demanding the payment on June 12, but that they refused to pay, contacted the appropriate authorities and proceeded to ensure that no other data could be accessed.

“We will not cave in to blackmail, and are cooperating fully with the authorities to protect our customers and bring these criminals to justice,” they stated, and added that the biggest danger now is that the leaked information could be used for phishing attacks, so they warned the affected customers about the breach and advised them to be on the lookout for them.

According to their Twitter feed, the hackers tried a similar approach with a couple of Belgian firms, who also didn’t cave in and got their stolen information leaked. Also according to the feed, their next target was Twilight star Taylor Lautner, whose email account they supposedly hacked.