Terms of Service
Cyber Files publishes researched write-ups of real cybercrime, for education. Read the free parts freely. If you subscribe, the paid files are for you personally, don't republish them. Everything here is history and defensive lessons, not instructions to attack anybody.
1. Who we are
Cyber Files is operated as Cyber Files, an independent publication operated from India. Contact: [contact address pending]. By using this site you agree to these terms.
2. What this content is, and what it isn't
Every case file is a reconstruction of publicly documented events, drawn from court records, breach reports, regulator findings, security-vendor analyses and journalism. Sources are listed on each file.
It is educational and journalistic. It is not, and must not be treated as:
- legal advice;
- professional security consultancy for your organisation;
- an operational guide for attacking any system.
We describe how historic attacks unfolded and what defenders should learn from them. We do not publish working exploit code, live malware, stolen data, or step-by-step instructions for compromising a specific target.
We label estimates as estimates and allegations as allegations, and we say when attribution is an assessment rather than a proven finding. Even so, reporting on cybercrime is often incomplete or contested, and we may be wrong. Nothing here is warranted as fact for the purposes of any decision you make. If you spot an error, tell us and we will correct it.
3. Accounts
- You must be 18 or over to create an account.
- Give an email address you actually control, it's how you recover access.
- Your account is personal. Don't share your login or licence key. Sharing may lead to suspension without refund.
- You're responsible for activity under your account. Tell us promptly if you think it has been compromised.
- You may delete your account at any time.
4. Subscriptions and payment
Paid access ("Insider") is billed through Gumroad, which acts as the merchant of record and handles payment, invoicing and applicable sales tax or VAT. Gumroad's own terms apply to the transaction itself.
- Subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel.
- You can cancel at any time through Gumroad; access continues to the end of the paid period.
- Prices may change, but never for a period you have already paid for. We'll give notice before a renewal at a new price.
See the Refund Policy for cancellations and refunds.
5. Your licence to the content
All case files, writing, design and code on this site are our copyright, except third-party material used with permission or under licence.
As a subscriber you get a personal, non-transferable licence to read and download the paid files for your own learning. You may quote short extracts with attribution and a link.
You may not:
- republish, resell or redistribute the paid files, in whole or substantial part;
- share your account, licence key or downloaded PDFs publicly;
- use the content to train a machine-learning model or generate derivative products at scale;
- scrape the site in bulk.
6. Acceptable use
Given the subject matter, this section is not boilerplate. You agree not to use this site, or anything you learn from it, to:
- access, damage or interfere with any computer system you are not explicitly authorised to test;
- commit fraud, extortion, stalking or harassment;
- develop or distribute malware, or traffic in stolen data or credentials.
Unauthorised access to computer systems is a criminal offence in most countries, including under the Information Technology Act, 2000 in India, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the United States, and the Computer Misuse Act 1990 in the United Kingdom. Security knowledge is defensive. Authorisation is what separates a professional from a defendant.
You also agree not to attack this site, no attempts to bypass the paywall, break authentication, or disrupt the service. If you find a security flaw, please report it to [contact address pending] instead of exploiting it; we welcome good-faith reports and will not pursue researchers who act responsibly and give us a reasonable chance to fix things.
7. Availability
This is a small, independent publication. We aim to keep it online and to keep publishing, but we don't guarantee uninterrupted availability, and we may change or retire features. If we permanently discontinue paid access, we will stop billing and honour any period already paid for.
8. Suspension
We may suspend or terminate an account that breaches these terms, in particular sections 5 and 6, or where required by law. Where the breach is serious (for example redistributing paid files), we may do so without refund.
9. Liability
The site and its content are provided "as is". To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for any decision made in reliance on the content. Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence. If you are a consumer, your statutory rights are unaffected.
Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim.
10. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of India, and the courts of India have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer resident elsewhere, you keep the benefit of any mandatory consumer protections of your own country.
11. Changes
We may update these terms; the date above shows when. Material changes affecting subscribers will be notified by email. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept it.
12. Contact
Questions, corrections, takedown requests or security reports: [contact address pending].