Ransomware recovery firm owner charged over alleged ransom-payment scheme

SecurityWeek reports that MonsterCloud owner Zohar Pinhasi was charged with wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy. According to the indictment, he claimed his company could recover victims’ data without paying ransomware attackers, but allegedly paid for decryption keys instead. He allegedly paid over $8 million in ransoms and charged clients over $19 million. In one case, an approximately $8,200 ransom payment was followed by an approximately $150,000 client charge.