Alright, gather ’round, everyone, because we have quite the tale to tell today. Ready your cuppas, my cyber-savvy mates, and prepare yourself for a hefty serving of digital shenanigans.
In our little chronicle, we’ve got ourselves a hacker going by the pseudonym ‘0mid16B’. This elusive chap has a somewhat notorious reputation, having previously taken a swing at The1 Card – Thailand’s most widely-used loyalty programme. In his recent exploits, he appeared to have turned his sights on our Uncle Sam’s MLM giant, Ardyss International.
Skip to the juicy bit, you ask? Oh, we’re getting there! According to this ‘stealer of secrets,’ he managed to swipe a whopping 596GB worth of data from Ardyss International in December 2024. Now that’s a lot of digital swag if you ask me, and quite the accomplishment considering Ardyss annually pulls in a revenue exceeding $958 million.
To show he wasn’t just pulling our leg, our hacker friend provided the folks over at DataBreaches with some alleged chat snapshots and a tantalizing snippet of 10,000 customers’ details. The usual who’s who was there – names, addresses of both customers and their firms, even phone numbers. Although some of the information was wrapped in a bit of mystery – not all fields were named, mind – a quick ‘Googling’ confirmed the legitimacy of the customer records.
The plot thickens as our virtual vigilante went on to explain – in not so many words – that he found a pair of chinks in Ardyss’ digital armor, which in turn paved the way for his data heist. After ‘moving in’, it took Ardyss’ tech team about a month to spot him, and even then their clean-up attempts were met with a digital equivalent of ‘playing possum’, as 0mid16B snuck back in during their downtimes.
Our daring hacker didn’t encrypt any files, it seems, choosing instead to wipe the Sherlock Holmes out of every file and database in sight. But alas, some detestable permission issues thwarted his plan to erase their shadow copies. Looks like Ardyss managed to pick up the pieces of lost data and put Humpty-Dumpty back together again.
The next act in our drama involves digital ‘David’ meeting an unexpected Goliath in the form of a chap named Gerardo V. Initially appearing as an Ardyss employee, working at their Mexico branch, Gerardo seemed interested in learning more about the hacker’s master plan. Turns out, the brass at Ardyss were none the wiser about his digital rendezvous, leaving them in the dark on the hacker’s demands.
In a plot twist fit for a Marvel movie, our previously mild-mannered Gerardo unmasks himself as the ‘God of Sales,’ declaring an unexpected allegiance with our cyber-criminal. To thicken the plot, this ‘God of Sales’ and his overseer next to him were willing to trade $15k for a slice of the cyber-pie.
However, their plan was short-lived, with 0mid16B advising the newfound ‘God of Sales’ to pack his bags for a speedy exit. Once the company’s big shots smelt a rat, they wanted to know just who at the office was attempting to blackmail them.
The end of this tale is as mysterious and thrilling as its start. No evidence so far as to what Gerardo V’s real play was; to get in on the digital heist, or set up a hoax that could have potentially led to a company disaster. Attempts to confirm or dispute these claims with Ardyss have, so far, yielded no fruits.
In the constantly evolving world of cybersecurity, let this serve as a vital reminder that threats can pose as twin-headed dragons – one head lying outside, and the other within. Now that’s a tale worthy of a cold pint on this rainy day. Thanks for joining in, till next time, keep those firewalls strong and your passwords stronger, alright?
by Parker Bytes
