Hacktivist Phineas Fisher Offers $100,000 Bitcoin Bounty To Hack Banks, Big Companies

Hacker Phineas Fisher will pay up to $100,000 to other hackers who will carry out hacktivist acts.

As part of their "Hacktivist Bug Hunting Program" that they published on Friday, Phineas Fisher will reward hackers who will target big companies and leak information to the public. Two companies that were mentioned as quarries are the Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group and American oil company Halliburton, as reported by Vice.

Phineas Fisher offers the $100,000 bounty denominated in cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC) or Monero (XMR).

Promoting Hacktivism
Despite the notoriety as a hacker with infamous attacks on British-German surveillance vendor Gamma Group, Italian company Hacking Team, a Spanish Police Union, and a Turkish ruling party from 2014 to 2016, Phineas Fisher carries through hacks that benefit the public's interest.

In their manifesto, Phineas Fisher wrote, "Hacking to obtain and leak documents with public interest is one of the best ways for hackers to use their abilities to benefit society."

"I'm not trying to make anyone rich. I'm just trying to provide enough funds so that hackers can make a decent living doing a good job."

Hacking a bank
Phineas Fisher also noted that they were also able to hack an offshore bank from the Isle of Man, Cayman Bank and Trust Company. In the same manifesto, the hacker stated that they were able to steal money, documents, and emails and invited other "hacktivist" to join their "fight against inequality and capitalism."

"The global financial elite are oppressors, not victims [...] Hacking that elite and returning the tiniest fraction of the wealth that they've stolen doesn't make them victims," Phineas Fisher told Vice. "It is cybercrime. It's also activism. It's motivated by a desire for social change, I'm not personally profiting or benefiting from it."

The real identity of Phineas Fisher remains anonymous.

Hacking a city
Although not a Phineas Fisher handiwork, the attack on Johannesburg is an example of a large-scale hack that happened recently (Oct. 25). Hackers gained control over South Africa's largest city's cyber networks and demanded ransom in Bitcoin that is equivalent to 500,000 thousand rands or about $34,000.