The Artists/Clients website was targeted around August 30 by the LunaLock ransomware group, leading to significant concerns about data security and potential misuse. The attackers are demanding a substantial ransom to prevent the exposure of sensitive information, including commissioned artwork, and have introduced a novel threat involving artificial intelligence training.
Upon compromising the Artists/Clients platform, LunaLock posted a message on the site’s homepage confirming the encryption of all files and the breach itself. This message outlined the group’s demands, specifying a ransom payment starting at $50,000 to be made in either Bitcoin or Monero. LunaLock asserted that upon receipt of the payment, the stolen data would be permanently deleted, and the encrypted files would be decrypted, restoring the website’s functionality.
Beyond the typical threats associated with ransomware attacks, LunaLock introduced a new element of extortion. The group threatened that if the ransom demand was not met, the stolen files and personal data would be leaked, potentially leading to breaches of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union and other privacy violations. The group also stated plans to submit all artwork stored on Artists/Clients’ servers to AI companies for use in training datasets.
The specific method of submitting the artwork to AI companies remains unclear. One potential approach, as suggested by sources, involves placing an open database online, making the stolen artwork accessible to AI crawlers. Security researcher Tammy Harper has identified this incident as the first known instance of a ransomware group explicitly using the threat of AI training to pressure victims into paying a ransom. This tactic leverages the increasing concerns among artists regarding the unauthorized use of their work in AI development.
The Artists/Clients website is currently offline, exacerbating the anxiety among its users. These users fear the potential exposure of their artwork, client communications, and payment details. To date, the platform has not released any official statement acknowledging the incident or addressing the concerns of its users. The novel threat of feeding stolen artwork to AI companies’ training datasets adds a layer of complexity and concern to this ransomware attack.
