Federal prosecutors charged Zohar Pinhasi, a U.S.-Israeli national who owned a Florida company that promised to help ransomware victims recover their files, with allegedly paying the attackers behind his clients’ cyberattacks and then billing the victims substantially more.
Pinhasi, 50, of Hollywood, Fla., owned MonsterCloud, which marketed itself as an alternative to paying ransomware demands, claiming it could restore access to encrypted files using proprietary technology and advanced decryption techniques. Prosecutors allege that Pinhasi, who also used the names “Zack Silver” and “Zack Green,” instead paid cybercriminals for decryption keys and passed the cost on to clients at a steep markup.
In one case in August 2023, Pinhasi allegedly paid a cybercriminal about $8,200 for a decryption key and charged the client about $150,000. Overall, prosecutors allege that he charged clients more than $19 million while paying more than $8 million in ransom payments.
“By falsely claiming to decrypt ransomware without paying off the ransomers, the defendant re-victimized his clients while extracting a hefty profit for himself,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, stated.
Pinhasi was arraigned on Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn after a grand jury indicted him in September. He faces wire fraud charges that carry a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.
