Former Contractor Convicted in Extortion Scheme Targeting Brightly Software A 27-year-old North Carolina man, Cameron Curry (alias "Loot"), has been found guilty of extorting Brightly Software, a Siemens-owned SaaS provider specializing in asset management and maintenance software for over 12,000 global clients. Curry, who worked as a data analyst contractor for Brightly, exploited his access to corporate and payroll data between August and December 2023, stealing sensitive documents after learning his six-month contract would not be renewed. On December 11 one day after his contract ended Curry sent over 60 extortion emails to Brightly employees, demanding a $2.5 million ransom in exchange for not leaking stolen data. The emails included screenshots of employee PII, such as names, birthdates, addresses, and compensation details, and threatened to report Brightly to the SEC for failing to disclose the breach. Curry warned that salary information would be publicly released starting January 1, 2024, with the ransom increasing by $100,000 monthly if unpaid. Brightly paid $7,540 in Bitcoin to Curry’s cryptocurrency wallet before reporting the incident to the FBI. A January 24 search of Curry’s residence uncovered electronic devices containing evidence of the scheme. He now faces up to 12 years in prison for six counts of interstate extortion. Separately, Brightly disclosed a May 2023 data breach affecting nearly 3 million SchoolDude customers after attackers accessed the platform’s database on April 20, stealing credentials and personal data. The intrusion was detected eight days later.