Mt.Gox has obtained temporary bankruptcy protection in the US. Add to that, there is rumour of extortions from anonymous hacker for Mt.Gox clients to pay to have their datas removed.

This week saw troubles piled up for ex-clients of Mt.Gox, a former leading bitcoin exchange that went offline and filed for bankruptcy procedures in Tokyo after being hacked to death by anonymous hacker (or hackers). It has obtained temporary bankruptcy protection in the US. Add to that, there is rumour of extortions from anonymous hacker for Mt.Gox clients to pay to have their datas removed.

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Mt.Gox Legal Tangle

Judge Harlin Hale in Dallas, Texas, yesterday (11/3) accepted Mt.Gox request for protection under Chapter 15 of US bankruptcy law for foreign firms. The ruling effectively protect the company, while suspend US lawsuits toward it during the course of bankruptcy proceedings in Japan. BBC mentioned that it gives Mt.Gox a temporary reprieve on two lawsuits that has been taken out against them in the US, that is one class-action suit on accusation of fraud filed by a client, and one civil suit over allegation of breach of contracts filed by Coinlab, Inc. The temporary protection will be reviewed in the bankruptcy court on April 1, to see whether Mt.Gox, Co., could maintain it.

Another US judge, Gary Feinerman from Chicago court, has issued temporary order to freeze the assets of MT.Gox Inc., an American affiliate of MT.Gox; Tibanne KK, its corporate parent; and Mt.Gox chief Mark Karpeles. The order will expire on 25 March, but a status conference has been scheduled for March 20.

After February hacking incident, Mt.Gox has lost 850,000 btc, consisted of 750,000 owned by its clients and 100,000 of its own. The financial losses are defined quite clearly. However, what is not mentioned on courts is the loss of Mt.Gox users datas. An unknown entity who called himself as nanashi has posted a ransom demand in pastebin under file titled Mt.Gox database sale.

 

Ransom Demands?

Digital ransom is nothing new. As people relies more and more to cyberspace for data storage, the threat of digital ransom intensify. And as malicious hackers getting more creative in their ways, a simple hacking could also turn into data abduction drama. In July 2012, hackers stole medical records from a small clinic in Illinois, encrypted them, and post a digital ransom note for payment. Unsurprisingly, by that time, there's already several small businesses that has became victim. In 2013, a malware named Cryptolocker became infamous due to its aptitude to encrypts personal datas, both in computer and cloud storage, and hold it for ransom. Now, it seems Mt.Gox clients turn to deal with this ever-growing threat.

Around one week ago, unknown hacker by the name nanashi leaked source code of Mt.Gox in pastebin (FYI, nanashi in Japanese means No Name or Anonymous). Yesterday (11/3), the same hackers alleged to have Mt.Gox clients' personal informations, including passport scan, in their possession. They said that they have sold 20% of data to 2 buyers, and will sell the rest to anyone who ask unless someone pay them 0.25 btc per person. Someone who wish to ransom their personal info should contact nanashi___@freemail.hu so they can check whether the info is still in their database, then (if it is still there) send 0.25 btc as payment. Afterward, nanashi said, they will delete the ransomed data and all of its copies.

However, several reddit users claimed that nanashi lied, and some even said that although they are worried about their datas, but they won't pay the ransom. For sure, Mt.Gox clients are in for more legal and financial tangle if nanashi really have their personal informations. But as there are no guarantees, then they are going to pay in vain if the claim is false. Either way, it is a no-win situation that underlines the hazard of cryptocurrency.