Hackers launched a cyber attack on a Providence Law firm last year locking down its database for more than three months. They also demanded $25,000 paid in the form of digital currency in exchange of data. But eventually, they failed to provide a workable key meant to decrypt files as soon as they received their demanded payment.
The law firm which insured its data with an insurer named ‘Sentinel Insurance Co’ was vexed with the lame excuses given by the company when it asked for a claim. So, the officials of Rhode Island-based law firm filed a case against their insurer for breach of contract and bad faith after it denied a claim for lost billings over the period of three months.
Here the company which filed the case is Moses Afonso Ryan LTD and the Insurer facing the lawsuit is Sentinel Insurance. Although the hack took place last year, it came into light at the end of the last week, when the first hearing came to the desk.
As per the details available to our Cybersecurity Insiders, the law firm which discovered that its database was locked by the hackers tried its best to negotiate with them the ransom.
And as the value of encrypted data was too high, the officials of the law firm decided to bow down to the demands of the hackers. They paid the hackers in Bitcoins, but the hackers failed to provide the decryption key and asked more in exchange for it. The law firm then arranged to purchase more bitcoins in exchange for other tools to recover its documents in a hope that all these expenses will be later paid back to them by the insurer.
But Sentinel Insurance Co has a different viewpoint on this whole issue. It said that the law firm, first of all, failed to adopt a data policy in its data center environment and so was facing the consequences of the cyber attack. And is in no way going to entertain the law firm’s claim as it goes against its company objective and stipulations. So, the insurer is not at all willing to pay the insured the sum of $43,000 paid to the hackers on an installment basis. The firm says that its officials are well capable of tackling this issue on a smart note.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Moses Afonso Ryan LTD opinions that the lawsuit filed in the US District Court has full potential to open a giant can of poisonous worms to the entire insurance industry.
More details will be updated shortly!
