Security News > 2021 > June > Data leak marketplace pressures victims by emailing competitors
The Marketo data theft marketplace is applying maximum pressure on victims by emailing their competitors and offering sample packs of the stolen data.
The data sold on these sites are obtained through the marketplace's own attacks, from other threat actors, or by collecting data released in other attacks, such as ransomware or website data breaches.
One of these marketplaces, known as Marketo, is now taking it a step further and emailing the victim's competitors to offer samples of the stolen data and entice them into purchasing it.
After we assume they could not find any buyers, Marketo started emailing the communication managers for the victim's competitors to offer a "Demo pack" of the stolen data.
It is not clear if Marketo were hoping competitors would purchase the data to learn corporate secrets or to pay to damage the reputation of their competitors.
Targeting victims' competitors to pressure a ransom payment or even encourage other companies to purchase stolen data is not new.