The Dark Overlord hackers have fulfilled their promise and published the first batch of decryption keys for 650 documents in a 70 megabytes file related to the 9/11 attacks.
Initially, the group had vowed to publish 10GB of data on Twitter account or on a Dark Web form called “KickAss.” but after being suspended on Twitter the Dark Overlord hackers announced their “tiered compensation plan” in which anyone can send Bitcoin to their Bitcoin address and depending on how much BTC are generated, the group will publish more documents accordingly.
A look at The Dark Overlord’s Bitcoin address reveals that there have been 16 transactions in which the group has made 3.27749466 BTC ($12,531 according to Google), good enough to release “layer 1″ and various checkpoints.” At the time of publishing this article, there were four more layers to be unlocked.
“Each layer contains more secrets, more damaging materials, more SSI, more SCI, more government investigation materials, and generally just more truth,” The Dark Overlord said in a Steemit post.
However, journalists who have viewed the information maintain that there is nothing exceptional about the data and appears to contain insurance files, lawsuit details of people affected by the 9/11 attacks and testimonies of airport security officials.
Although until now The Dark Overlord hackers were considered to be individuals hacking for money, one thing that could be worrisome is that they are also offering the stolen data to terrorists. For instance, in their now deleted Pastebin post on New Year Eve, it was stated that:
“If you’re a terrorist organization such as ISIS/ISIL, Al-Qaeda, or a competing nation-state of the USA such as China or Russia, you’re welcome to purchase our trove of documents.”
Remember, on January 1st, Dark Overlord hackers had claimed to hack and steal sensitive 9/11 related data from Silverstein Properties, a law firm called Hiscox Syndicates Ltd, and Lloyd’s of London. The group also threatened the firm to pay ransom in Bitcoin. It is noteworthy that Hiscox acknowledged that it suffered a data breach but Lloyd’s and Silverstein denied that they were hacked.
The Dark Overlord is a notorious group of hackers known for targeting banks, healthcare insurance firms, plastic surgery clinic, media giants like Netflix, Steve Harvey’s Funderdome TV show. The group went on to leak student data and sent death threats to an Iowa based Johnston Community School District forcing it to close some of its schools. The messages were sent to parents via text included physically harming their kids and even killing them.
In May 2018, Serbian authorities arrested a 38-year-old man from Belgrade suspected of being one of the members of The Dark Overlord hacking group. However, based on its recent attack it is not rocket science to realize the group is alive and still haunting its victims.
