Hackers threaten to feed data to AI if their demands aren’t met
Artists’ data is under threat after hackers demanded a $50,000 ransom.
Image by Cybernews
Artists’ data is under threat after hackers demanded a $50,000 ransom.
The ransomware group LunaLock has compromised a commission-based platform that connects artists with clients.
The group said that if it was not paid a ransom on time, it would share the data with AI companies, meaning all the artists’ work would be added to LLM datasets.
On August 30th, a message appeared on the Artists & Clients website stating that it had been hacked by a ransomware group.
One of the website’s users noticed the message and shared the news on Reddit. They were redirected to a page with a ransom note, indicating that all the databases and files, including artwork, had been stolen and encrypted. In return for the stolen data, the group is asking $50,000.
Users were even more concerned because the company had not released an official statement or further updates. At the same time, the website contains not only users' artwork but also information such as messages and payment information.
Apart from threatening to release all the data to the public on the Tor site, the group also revealed that it would “submit all artwork to AI companies to be added to training datasets.”
LunaLock promised to delete the stolen data and let users decrypt their files as soon as it gets paid.
The note also included a timer that gave the owners of Artists & Clients over a week to send the payment in bitcoin or monero.
While this situation could be perceived as a pretty standard ransomware attack, what makes it stand out is the additional threat to release the artists’ work to AI companies, which would use it to train their language models, reports 404 Media.
Considering how AI is reshaping various creative industries, this threat could seriously affect artists, who could pressure the company to pay the ransom.
Nevertheless, discussions on Reddit reveal that those who use the services are much more concerned about their personal and payment data being leaked than not getting paid for their latest commissions.
“I just went ahead and transferred all the important accounts to a new email and deleted the one they got a hold of. Hopefully that's enough,” wrote another Redditor, concerned for data.
Some netizens were quick to share a few tips on what to do next if you’re a user of Artists & Creators.
“I just went ahead and transferred all the important accounts to a new email and deleted the one they got hold of. Hopefully that's enough,” wrote one Redditor.
“And now is a good time to check where one re-used their passwords on other websites and change them and [...] add in 2 factor auth or another safety measure on your PayPal account because iirc A&C only used PayPal,” shared another user.
“Considering that they keep banning artists without reason, delayed payouts, non-existent support, this is very much deserved. I feel sorry for the artists and their customers, though,” wrote one Redditor, referring to some of the problems that its users were facing before the attack.