Florida cyber owner accused of misleading ransomware victims; firm charged $19M, secretly paid hackers $8M

Representative Image (AI-generated) A Florida cybersecurity company owner who allegedly told ransomware victims that his firm could recover encrypted data without paying hackers is now facing federal wire fraud charges. According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Zohar Pinhasi, 50, owner of ransomware remediation company MonsterCloud, claimed to have proprietary tools and advanced techniques for decrypting files. Prosecutors allege that his company instead paid the cybercriminals behind the attacks and charged clients substantially more for the recovery. The DOJ said Pinhasi allegedly collected more than $19 million from clients while secretly paying over $8 million in ransom.What prosecutors allegePinhasi, who is also known as “Zack Silver” and “Zack Green,” was arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn on October 7 after being indicted by a grand jury in the Eastern District of New York on September 23. He is accused of defrauding clients who turned to MonsterCloud after their businesses were hit by ransomware. Ransomware attacks typically lock or encrypt a victim's computer files and demand payment in exchange for restoring access. According to the indictment described by the ...