Lady Gaga (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
If you needed some reminder that a global pandemic is not the time to take your law firm’s secure technology for granted, well, this is the story for you.
Entertainment law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks is the victim of a ransomware (called “REvil”) attack and 756 gigabytes of data was compromised. Some of the headline-grabbing names that the stolen data relates to are Jennifer Lopez, David Letterman, John Mellencamp, Robert DeNiro, Christina Aguilera, Barbra Streisand, Mariah Carey, Andrew Webber, Luther Vandross, Sean Puffy Combs, Rod Stewart, Priyanka Chopra, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, the Kardashian sisters & family, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, Tom Cruise, Dwayne Johnson, and Lady Gaga.
Last week, the firm refused to pay the $21 million in ransom that was demanded. In retaliation, the hackers have leaked 2.4 gigabytes of data related to Grubman client Lady Gaga, saying:
“It seems that GRUBMANS doesn’t care about their clients or it was a mistake to hire a recovery company to help in the negotiations,” the hackers wrote. “As we promised, we [published] the first part of the data because the time is up.”
They’ve also reportedly upped the requested ransom to $42 million.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, a firm spokesperson confirmed the firm has no intention of paying the ransom:
“Our elections, our government, and our personal information are under escalating attacks by foreign cybercriminals. Law firms are not immune from this malicious activity,” a spokesperson for Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks told Rolling Stone in a statement.
“Despite our substantial investment in state-of-the-art technology security, foreign cyberterrorists have hacked into our network and are demanding $42 million as ransom. We are working directly with federal law enforcement and continue to work around the clock with the world’s leading experts to address this situation.
The leaking of our clients’ documents is a despicable and illegal attack by these foreign cyberterrorists who make their living attempting to extort high-profile U.S. companies, government entities, entertainers, politicians, and others,” the spokesperson added. “We have been informed by the experts and the FBI that negotiating with or paying ransom to terrorists is a violation of federal criminal law. Even when enormous ransoms have been paid, the criminals often leak the documents anyway.”
The hackers have also released a statement boasting that they have sensitive information related to President Trump:
“There’s an election race going on, and we found a ton of dirty laundry. Mr. Trump, if you want to stay president, poke a sharp stick at the guys, otherwise you may forget this ambition forever,” they wrote. “And to you voters, we can let you know that after such a publication, you certainly don’t want to see him as president. Well, let’s leave out the details. The deadline is one week.”
It is unclear what Trump information the hackers claim to have. Trump is not a client of the Grubman firm.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).