Scorned hacker releases UAE bank client data

We recently highlighted the story of "Hacker Buba", who, having hacked into various UAE banks had demanded a ransom of $3m, threatening to publish client data if the banks failed to pay, which the three Gulf banks promptly refused to do. The hacker has now released the credit card details of 50,000 customers, account balances of 64,000 and the transaction history of 100,000 clients of just one of the banks: suggesting perhaps the other two banks paid up after all. The Sharjah-based bank whose customers' details were released, will be left to ponder whether the risk to its reputation isn't financially greater than paying the initial ransom.

SHARJAH The cyber criminal who hacked into a Sharjah bank last month has gone on the rampage. After the bank refused to give into his blackmail and pay $3 million in ransom money, the criminal Hacker Buba has posted the confidential details of more UAE customers online. In the latest round of leaks, he has released details of 50,000

credit card users, account balances of 64,000 customers and 100,000 transaction histories among a slew of other information in six zip files.

Temporary storage

Until recently this vast data sat on the website of an Eastern European basketball team, apparently also hacked by Buba and used as a temporary storage. At one point, over 50 seemingly unrelated Twitter accounts were tweeting the message signed Hacker Buba and carrying a link to the website of the basketball team. On November 26, XPRESS

reported the database breach, detailing how Buba was leaking the sensitive data of corporates, individuals and government entities every few hours via his Twitter account. He had said that he would not stop until he was

paid the ransom in Bitcoins. Now he has carried out the threat. According to online newspaper The Daily Dot which contacted XPRESS and also quoted it in a subsequent report, the new set of data appears genuine. One database analysed by them reportedly included the sensitive information of around 40,000 customers, including their names, credit card numbers and birthdays. “It is so scary. How much I spent on groceries last year, where I shopped for clothes, where I had that coffee, my salary, every thing is out there on a public platform,” said a Dubai-based

Arab businessman who is among thousands whose accounts have been compromised. A representative of an electronic

major said they have withdrawn all their money from the bank. “It was in millions. We cannot take any chances,” he said. The bank in question declined to give an update on the case despite repeated requests while a comment was not readily available from the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) which is said to be investigating the breach.