Hacking collective threatens release of 9/11 documents

Hackers Threaten to Leak 9/11 Files That Will ‘Top Snowden’s Finest Work’ 

Sputnik News,

2 January, 2019

The same hackers that released episodes of a yet-to-be-aired Netflix series and hacked major networks such as ABC, NBC, and HBO say that gigabytes of highly-confidential material they stole from a law firm could shed more light on the biggest terror act in American history.

The Dark Overlord, an international hacker group, have announced that they have stolen a trove of undisclosed information regarding the 9/11 attacks — and they are ready to release it unless they do not receive ransom money, denominated in Bitcoins.

The group, infamously known for leaking, in 2017, episodes of the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black, say that they have hacked an unnamed US-based law firm. When looking through the stolen cache of data, they found "hundreds of gigabytes of litigation-related documents", including a total of 18,000 e-mails, non-disclosure agreements, expert witness testimonies, and communications with government officials.

The hacked law firm is said to have paid a "satisfactory" amount of money to the Dark Overlord but also contacted law enforcement officials — a move that drew the hackers' ire.

READ MORE: ‘Shine a Light’: ACLU Sues 7 US Federal Agencies to Expose Government Hacking

The cyber thieves teased that the release of this data would outshine "both in volume and impact" Edward Snowden's leak of documents on extensive internet and phone surveillance in the US. "We'll guarantee to all our astute readers that the subsequent release of these materials will generate millions of news articles and result in the biggest and most significant data breach ever to have occurred."

They stressed that the data breach was already reported in April but went largely unnoticed. Back then, a legal news digest said the attack targeted a specialist law firm that provided advice to global insurer Hiscox Syndicates Ltd. and its policyholders.

According to the Dark Overlord, the stolen data was also related to the insurance market Lloyds of London and the real estate and investment firm Silverstein Properties. Part of the litigation, as per the statement, also involves sensitive information from such American federal agencies as the FBI, CIA, Transport Security Administration, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defence, which has not been published for the sake of national security.

The hackers have published a small part of the data from the trove containing information about settlements and the correspondence of the law firm Husch Blackwell, which represented the interests of American Airlines' contractor. They did not name the price for the loot, but said that the docs may be available to everyone, from terrorists to US' diplomatic rivals.

"If a full public release happens in the near future, we'll guarantee that we're going to withhold only the most highly confidential and sensitive documents for private sale. For the rest of you: don't worry, there's [sic] thousands of documents still to go around".

The documents in question are stored in an encrypted archive, which consists of five layers, with Layer 1 being the most innocuous and Layer 5 the most hard-hitting stuff. Entities and individuals involved in post-9/11 investigations are able to obtain sensitive documents in which they are mentioned by paying a ransom.

"And finally, a message to the companies directly involved to include the airlines, government agencies, the dozens of solicitor firms, the insurers, and the many others, this is a message directly to you: pay the f*ck up, or we're going to bury you with this. If you continue to fail us, we'll escalate these releases by releasing the keys, each time a Layer is opened, a new wave of liability will fall upon you."

FBI Probing Theft Of 18,000 Documents Linked To Sept 11 Attacks

Zero Hedge,

2 January, 2019

The FBI is investigating the theft of 18,000 documents related to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center by a hacking collective known as The Dark Overlord, according to FT, citing two people familiar with the matter. 

Posting under the name “The Dark Overlord”, the hacker or hackers claimed on New Year’s Eve that they had taken emails and non-disclosure agreements relating to the 9/11 attacks that were sent and received by groups including insurers Hiscox and Lloyd’s of London and the law firm Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, now called Husch Blackwell.

The Dark Overlord said it would sell the documents for bitcoin, inviting Isis, al-Qaeda and nation states to bid for them online. -FT

"Pay the fuck up, or we're going to bury you with this. If you continue to fail us, we'll escalate these releases by releasing the keys, each time a Layer is opened, a new wave of liability will fall upon you," reads the hacking group's demand letter. 

"If you're one of the dozens of solicitor firms who was involved in the litigation, a politician who was involved in the case, a law enforcement agency who was involved in the investigations, a property management firm, an investment bank, a client of a client, a reference of a reference, a global insurer, or whoever else, you're welcome to contact our e-mail below and make a request to formally have your documents and materials withdrawn from any eventual public release of the materials. However, you'll be paying us," the note continues. 

Images of some of the documents began circulating on Wednesday after the group released decryption keys, which appear to show communications related to the World Trade Center. 

The FBI is one of multiple law-enforcement agencies who are now investigating the breach, according to FT. The Dark Overlord, meanwhile, says that it has been under investigation for years, and that it had also gathered other information from Lloyd's and Silverstein Properties - founded by former WTC owner Larry Silverstein. 

Hiscox insurance said it became aware of the hack last April. 

"The law firm’s systems are not connected to Hiscox’s IT infrastructure and Hiscox’s own systems were unaffected by this incident," said a Hiscox spokesperson. "One of the cases the law firm handled for Hiscox and other insurers related to litigation arising from the events of 9/11, and we believe that information relating to this was stolen during that breach."

"We will continue to work with law enforcement in both the UK and US on this matter," added the spokesperson. 

The September 11 attacks cost the insurance industry the equivalent of $45bn in 2017 terms, according to the Insurance Information Institute, and led to years of litigation over who should bear the cost.

Both Hiscox and Lloyd’s have expanded heavily into cyber insurance in recent years, selling protection against the costs of dealing with cyber attacks.

Husch Blackwell said it had not been hacked: “Several documents bearing the letterhead of a predecessor law firm to Husch Blackwell were made public earlier this week by a cyber terrorist group,” the company said in a statement.

“After a thorough review Husch Blackwell can confirm that no documents were obtained from Husch Blackwell and that there was no unauthorised access to Husch Blackwell systems, client files, documents or data.”  -FT

A spokesperson for Lloyd's said it had no evidence of a breach of their systems, and said in a statement "Lloyd’s will continue to monitor the situation closely, including working with managing agents targeted by the hacker group."

Silverstein Properties says that the company is investigating the claims, and that "e are aware of claims of alleged security breaches at firms involved in the five-year insurance litigation following the attacks of 9/11," adding "To date, we have found no evidence to support a security breach at our company. We have spent the last 17 years fulfilling our obligation to deliver a magnificent and fully rebuilt World Trade Center. We will not be distracted by 9/11 conspiracy theories."