A rescue mission was launched amid lurid stories of armed hijackers, alleged boardings, ransom notes and claims that the Russian mafia were forcing the crew to smuggle drugs or guns.
An expert on cybersecurity said that ransomware attacks on hospitals are estimated to have a fivefold increase by the year 2021 compared to what they were in 2018.
Elsewhere in " Donbass" , for example, a businessman whom the militia are extorting is transferred to a holding room-where he finds a legion of other detainees pleading for help on their phones.
Now to play devil's advocate on behalf of the billionaires, their public notoriety does make them targets for kidnapping, blackmail, or just revenge by disgruntled former employees who filled up one too many piss bottles.
That was just the heat of the moment, and once you get to know me, you'll understand that I am not the kind of person who could ever, ever resort to blackmail.
The incident is one of the most disruptive digital ransom operations ever reported and has drawn attention to how critical US energy infrastructure is vulnerable to hackers.