83-year-old televangelist Kenneth Copeland scared many of us when he maniacally laughed for too long during his Sunday service following the news that Joe Biden was the projected-elect President and Democrats will take over.
Copeland is a known Trump supporter and also worth $760 million. If you ask me, his extended laugh seemed a bit demonic and has since gone viral.
But ransomware gang REvil are laughing now. Since Copeland’s episode, he has been targeted by the group. According to The-Sun, the Russian hacking tribe announced on the dark web website Happy Blog that they hacked the religious idol and claimed they have screenshots to prove it.
The gang uses ransomware – software unknowingly installed by the victim – to break into networks to encrypt them. Other victims include Madonna, Lady Gaga, and even Donald Trump, who the group sought to extort.
The Russian hackers have been labeled “cyber-terrorist” but the FBI, but the group released a statement on its blog saying, “your position is your choice.”
Copeland is based in Texas and is said to be one of the world’s richest pastors. He’s also known for his bizarre comments on the coronavirus.
Hackers say they were able to get inside KCM’s systems and steal more than 1.2TB of data. Apparently, that’s like taking roughly 120,000 storage boxes of files and warn the files will soon go public.
“Money, authority religion and again money. A success story. Absolutely all severs and working computers of the company are hacked and encrypted,” the cybercriminals claim.
However, the listing is no longer on the site.
The hackers have claimed to have made more than $100million over the last year by extorting businesses.
Brett Callow, a cybersecurity threat analyst at Emsisoft, told The Sun Online: “Ransomware groups used to simply encrypt their victims’ data, but, since the tail end of last year, they’ve been stealing it too.
“The threat of releasing the stolen data is used as additional leverage to extort payment.
“If the victim doesn’t pay or doesn’t pay quickly enough, the data is posted online, usually in a series of instalment.
“The exact process varies from group to group. This one starts by naming victims on its leak site and posting screenshots that were allegedly taken while they were inside the network.
“It is kinda like a burglar sending you a selfie taken in front of your fridge – it’s proof they were there.
“That’s the stage this is at – or, at least was it.”
The 83-year-old Texas pastor, Kenneth Copeland, has a reported net worth of between $760 million and $1 billion…