Threat to Wipro: Pay 500 Cr or will poison office - 02 September 2017

Started by Sudhakar, Sep 03, 2017, 04:56 AM

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Sudhakar

Threat to Wipro: Pay 500 Cr or will poison office
techgig | Posted By: Ajay Malick


Bengaluru cyber crime police have begun investigating an email sent to IT giant Wipro in which the sender threatens to infect the company with a chemical poison if Rs 500 crore is not paid in bitcoins.

Bengaluru cyber crime police have begun investigating an email sent to IT giant Wipro in which the sender threatens to infect the company with a chemical poison if Rs 500 crore is not paid in bitcoins. Security at its campuses has been stepped up as a precautionary measure.

The complaint was registered by Wipro authorities after an email was received at Wipro's Sarjapur office on Friday morning. The email sent from the id - Ramesh2@protonmail.com - claimed the sender was in procession of 1kg of Ricin and 2gms would be sent in envelopes as a warning.

"He gave two links to which Wipro should send the money in bitcoins. If the company failed to do so by May 25, he threatened to spread the poison Ricin in the cafeteria, toilets of campus and spread it using drones," said Ravi S, additional commissioner of police (crime).

Cyber police registered a case under Section 66 F of the IT Act (cyber terrorism). He added that cops are currently checking whether the links given are to a bank account. Ricin, a natural toxic protein, is an extract of castor bean from the castor plant and can be used as a biological weapon.

Wipro authorities confirmed the complaint in a statement: "Wipro confirms it has filed a complaint with local law enforcement authorities after receiving a threatening letter from an unidentified source. Wipro has augmented security measures at all its office locations. There is no impact on the company's operations. We have no further comment as the investigation is ongoing."

Police said that although security at the campus has been stepped up, some teams are looking at the possible involvement of insiders or former employees. Wipro had received a threat in 2013, wherein an anonymous letter threatened to blow up the company's campuses in Bengaluru, but it turned out to be a hoax.

Source : https://www.techgig.com/tech-news/Threat-to-Wipro-Pay-500-Cr-or-will-poison-office-124646