MonsterCloud owner charged with wire fraud in 'no-ransom' scheme

Federal prosecutors in New York charged Zohar Pinhasi, owner of cybersecurity firm MonsterCloud, with two counts of wire fraud and one count of wire-fraud conspiracy. The company allegedly billed clients over $19 million while secretly paying about $8 million in ransoms, despite marketing a 'no-ransom' decryption service.

• Pinhasi faces up to 20 years per wire-fraud count if convicted
• One client was billed ~$150,000 while the ransom paid was ~$8,200
• MonsterCloud marketed proprietary decryption without paying attackers
• Prosecutors say the company had no such decryption capability