Graff claims to have paid a bitcoin ransom of $7.5 million to a Russian hacking group.

Graff, a British luxury jeweller, is taking insurer The Travellers Companies to court for not paying up a claim of $7.5 million on account of a bitcoin ransom that it paid to Russian hacker gang Conti. Graff was forced to pay the amount to prevent a leak of data relating to its big clients, including Middle East royalty. (Bitcoin.com)

The ransomware attack took place in September last year and the hackers released a preliminary cache of data relating to the royal families of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar.

“Our goal is to publish as much of Graff’s information as possible regarding the financial declarations made by the US-UK-EU neo-liberal plutocracy, which engages in obnoxiously expensive purchases when their nations are crumbling under economic duress,” the hacking group allegedly threatened, promising to release even more data.

Graff is said to have renegotiated the initial ransom demand from $15 million down to $7.5 million. The company stated:

“The criminals threatened targeted publication of our customers’ private purchases. We were determined to take all possible steps to protect their interests and so negotiated a payment which successfully neutralized that threat.”

“We are extremely frustrated and disappointed by Travelers’ attempt to avoid settlement of this insured risk. They have left us with no option but to bring these recovery proceedings at the High Court,” it added.

Ransomware pay-outs by cyber insurers

According to the latest report by enterprise security company, Panaseer, the largest ransomware pay-outs by cyber insurers in the last two years has averaged £3.26 million in the UK and $3.52 million in the US.

Nik Whitfield, Founder and Chairman of Panaseer, commented: “Unfortunately there are no optional security measures. Insurers expect organisations to have good cyber hygiene across a broad spectrum of security areas, both on-premise and cloud environments, with the evidence to prove it.”

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