Hackers Threaten to Submit Artists’ Data to AI Models If Art Site Doesn’t Pay Up

Matthew Gault reports that an old school ransomware attack has a new twist: threatening to feed data to AI companies so it’ll be added to LLM datasets.

Around August 30, a message appeared on Artists&Clients attributed to the ransomware group LunaLock, stating that they had breached the site to steal and encrypt all its data, and warning that if the site’s owners did not pay, they would release all data publicly on a Tor site and submit artwork to AI training datasets, including personal data of users, according to screenshots taken before the site went down on Tuesday.

LunaLock promised to delete the stolen data and allow users to decrypt their files if the site’s owner paid a $50,000 ransom. The report notes the threat as a development in how attackers are combining extortion with AI data-harvesting aims. Further details are referenced at 404 Media.