The hacker group Black Shadow hacked one of the largest insurance companies in Israel, Shirbit, and demanded a ransom of 50 BTC (~$967,500 at the time of writing) from it, The Jerusalem Post reports.

On Thursday, December 2, Black Shadow published in Telegram a large package of personal data of employees and customers of the company. The attackers warned: if bitcoins do not arrive to their wallet within 24 hours, the amount of the ransom will increase to 100 BTC, and in another day it will reach 200 BTC.

All this time, the hacker group will continue to spread parts of the stolen information.

If Shirbit refuses to pay, the attackers threatened to sell the compromised company data.

The firm has already contacted the National Cybersecurity Administration and the Capital Market Administration, which confirmed the hacking. The initial investigation revealed a leak of insurance information.

According to the publication, there are many government employees among Shirbit’s clients, including high-ranking ones.

“Shirbit has invested millions of shekels in database security and protection against cyber attacks and complies with all strict regulatory requirements in this area,” commented CEO of the company Zvi Leibushor.

He added that the firm will make all the resources and efforts necessary to “effectively, safely and quickly solve the cyberattack, the real purpose of which is to harm the Israeli economy.”

Recall that in November, Israeli companies were attacked by a previously unknown ransomware virus, the operators of which researchers linked to Iran.