Cyber Security Firm Is Accused Of Hacking Its Clients For Patronage

A cyber security firm called Tiversa has been accused of faking data breaches in order to extort its clients. Well this accusation was made by a former investigator of the security firm in an American courtroom. According to Engadget, Richard Wallace who made the allegation also claimed that employees of Tiversa would hack potential clients in order to force them to pay for their services. The CEO, Bob Boback, would apparently even order them to look for IPs of known identity thieves using Tiversa’s close ties to law enforcement agencies. They’d then tell the companies they were targeting that those IPs are breaking into their computers as an additional scare tactic. Accoring to a CNNMoney post, In 2010, Tiversa scammed LabMD, a cancer testing center in Atlanta, Wallace testified. Wallace said he tapped into LabMD’s computers and pulled the medical records.

The cybersecurity firm then alerted LabMD it had been hacked. Tiversa offered it emergency “incident response” cybersecurity services. After the lab refused the offer, Tiversa threatened to tip off federal regulators about the “data breach.”

Distrust between consumers and security firms is not new. It is widely believed though not substantiated that security companies (anti malware) often expose you to online viruses in order to force you to renew your subscription. What we do know though is that Tiversa is going to have a long time defending itself in the eyes of the public.

If this proves to be true, they may not be alone in this practise as authorities may need to investigate this further.