Alleged Equifax hackers demand $2.6 million Bitcoin ransom — or else...

By now you know that credit reporting agency Equifax was hacked, and with it, potentially 143 million Americans social security numbers, birth dates, and then some. Unless, according to the criminals who supposedly hacked them, Equifax pays up. 

That's according to an onion site, whose authors insist that if Equifax forks over 600 Bitcoin — approximately $2.66 million at the time of this writing — then they'll delete all the stolen data. Oh, and Equifax better decide quickly, because if the ransom isn't paid, the self-identified hackers say they'll dump all the data on September 15th.  

Well, almost all of the data. The supposed hackers wrote that they won't publicly post credit card numbers — suggesting an intention to get some illicit use out of those. 

"We are two people trying to solve our lives and those of our families," the site explains. "We did not expect to get as much information as we did, nor do we want to affect any citizen. But we need to monetize the information as soon as possible."

Now, you'd be right to be skeptical of these claims — after all, it's pretty easy to throw together a website and pretend to be a hacker. However, there's a twist: In a message addressed to Equifax the authors say they can prove they're legit.

Read more: https://mashable.com/2017/09/08/equifax-hackers-bitcoin-ransom/#6rQhl0M_GkqH