Rhysida Demands 15 Bitcoins From World’s Largest Yacht Maker

Notorious ransomware group Rhysida, which launched an attack on MarineMax more than a week ago, has demanded that the US luxury yacht dealer pay 15 Bitcoins, valued at almost a million USD, at the time of writing, as a ransom to retrieve its data stolen as a result of a security breach perpetrated by the gang.

MarineMax company, founded in 1998 by Bill McGill, claims to be the world’s largest yacht company, given its achievement. The firm has a total revenue of about 2.39 million calculated in 2023, and over 125 locations around the world, with locations in 21 states in the US inclusive and an estimated value of 65 marinas and boat storage facilities.

Rhysida this week posted on its leak website, a part of the data it claims to have stolen from MarineMax, which appears to be financial records of the yacht company, including earnings reports, customer databases, bank transaction records, balance sheets, and a host of others.

Rhysida is Open to the Highest Bidder

In addition to leaking MarineMax’s alleged data, the gang added a threatening message that it will hold a seven-day auction on its website, offering the data to the highest bidder unless MarineMax pays the ransom fee. The message reads, “With just seven days on the clock, seize the opportunity to bid on exclusive, unique, and impressive data.” Open your wallets and be ready to buy exclusive data. We sell only to one hand, no reselling, you will be the only owner!”

However, the post contradicted the statement the luxury yacht dealer made after reporting a cybersecurity breach with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a week earlier. In the  Form 8-K filed with the SEC, MarineMax stated: “The Company does not maintain sensitive data in the information environment impacted by the incident.”

The recent cyberattack involving MarineMax has increased the number of institutions that have fallen victim to gang’s malicious acts. Included in the list are the UK royal family, the British Library and the most recent, the Anne & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago where the ransomware gang sold all the hospital’s stolen data to a buyer that was willing to pay the $4 million ransom.

Cyber attacks by Rhysida and other ransomware groups are causing great losses both in the crypto space and out. However, a recent report revealed that worse than ransomware attacks, more crypto losses are incurred from crypto scams