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Social network Gab hacked, hit with $500,000 ransom demand

FancyMancy

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Joined
Sep 20, 2017
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6,705
01/03/2021

A large trove of data was reportedly taken, including private posts and messages.

Gab, an alternative social network popular with right-wing users, was hacked and a large trove of data -- including passwords and private messages -- was stolen. The company says it's received a ransom demand for nearly $500,000 in bitcoin for the data.

The hacked data, dubbed GabLeaks, was shared by transparency group DDoSecrets. It includes 70GB of public posts, private posts, user profiles, hashed passwords, direct messages and plaintext passwords for groups, according to DDoSecrets. The group said it's only offering the data set to journalists and researchers due to privacy concerns.

CEO Andrew Torba acknowledged the hack, which was reported on Sunday by Wired, in a message posted to the Gab account on Twitter that said the social network was under attack. "The entire company is all hands investigating what happened and working to trace and patch the problem," Torba wrote in the message, which includes a transphobic slur. Torba said the company is working with law enforcement on the issue.

Torba revealed the ransom demand on Monday in a message posted to the company's website.

"The individuals holding us to ransom are extortionists," Torba writes in the post. "We do not pay ransom. We do not negotiate with extortionists. Period."

He also cricitized DDoSecrets for its supposed intention to release the data to journalists for ethical reasons.

"These people are not 'ethical hackers,' Torba goes on to say. "There is nothing 'ethical' about targeting millions of internet users for partisan political agendas."

A hacker was able to siphon data from Gab's site via a "SQL injection vulnerability," DDoSecrets told Wired.

CNET hasn't independently verified the content of the Gab data. The social network couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Gab took itself offline briefly last month when the social network was used in a bitcoin scam. Gab isn't alone in being struck by bitcoin wallet spam. Last July, a massive bitcoin scam hit Twitter as hackers took over high-profile accounts, including those of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Kanye West and Barack Obama.

Gab, which has previously come under fire for anti-Semitic content, hails itself as a platform for free speech, a self-characterization also used by Parler, a right-wing Twitter clone. Parler was taken offline for about a month after it lost services from Amazon Web Services because the social network was used to organize the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill. Before Parler was taken offline, hackers were able to scrape data from the site to create an archive of posts, including deleted posts and location data for images and videos.

https://archive.is/xpdUt



Gab Does Not Negotiate With Criminal Demons
01/03/2021

Over the weekend we received word that we had been subject to a hack that would be published by a third-party nonprofit organization, Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDS), which the Department of Homeland Security has described as “criminal hackers.”

DDS announced that it would only be making the leak available to journalists and researchers for “ethical” reasons. At the same time, an individual who claimed to be the hacker sent us a ransom demand for nearly $500,000 in Bitcoin. We immediately notified federal law enforcement.

This ransom demand would be worthless if DDS did what it had done with other hacks in the past – i.e., publishing them in full, as it did with leaks from another free speech website, Parler, earlier in the month. DDS made an exception on our case which we cannot currently explain. This exception conveniently assisted a third-party who, at the same time as DDS was preparing to leak our documents, secretly sent us emailed threats and ransom demands.

Per DHS, DDS are criminals. The individuals holding us to ransom are extortionists. We do not pay ransom. We do not negotiate with extortionists. Period.

These people are not “ethical hackers.” There is nothing “ethical” about targeting millions of internet users for partisan political agendas. Similarly there is nothing “ethical” about so-called “researchers” encouraging hackers to steal this information from innocent Americans to promote their own partisan aims.

Research organizations and “journalists” who are encouraging this criminal activity by lending it the legitimacy of academic institutions and media outlets should be ashamed of themselves.

Gab will emerge from these events stronger and more resilient than ever before. The enemy has tried for nearly five years now to take us off the internet, remove us from the financial system, libel our community, and attack us from every possible angle. We will not be shaken, we will not back down, and we will continue forging the path forward on our mission to defend free speech online for all people.

Andrew Torba
CEO, Gab.com
March 1st, 2021
Jesus is King

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

https://archive.is/tm3Fk
 

Al Jilwah: Chapter IV

"It is my desire that all my followers unite in a bond of unity, lest those who are without prevail against them." - Satan

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