While some hackers they became wealthy by the theft of millions of credit cards from Target, there are others who try more discreet methods to earn easy money.
Internet blackmail a fashion that spreads
In recent weeks, the two companies have publicly described their experiences with what's going on to become the new popular hacker tactic: Internet blackmail. Cybercriminals threaten to reveal sensitive data or destroy websites and services if they are not paid.
Just like kidnappers, cyber-criminals also demand ransom and we have heard of several cases in the past. But all indications are that cases of digital extortion have increased significantly in recent months and with high-profile victims, according to Matthew Prince, διευθύνων σύμβουλο της CloudFlare.
"The audacity of the attacks has increased and they are directed everywhere without discrimination," Matthew Prince said in an interview.
Last month, an unknown hacker threatened to destroy the Meetup site, a social networking site with 16 million members, unless the company paid 300 dollars as a ransom.
On Monday, Basecamp, a software development company, received an email from a hacker who threatened to destroy the site and asked for it to be paid to Bitcoin.
Both companies refused to pay. In response, the hackers "threw" the Basecamp website for two hours and the Meetup website for 24 hours.
Αυτά ήταν μόνο δύο μεμονωμένα περιστατικά ψηφιακών εκβιασμών που συμβαίνουν στο Internet. Δεν υπάρχουν στατιστικά στοιχεία που δείχνουν την συχνότητα των περιστατικών, επειδή αρκετές εταιρίες δεν θα το παραδεχτούν ποτέ δημοσίως.
Scott Heifernan, co-founder of Meetup, said his company "made the decision not to negotiate with criminals," in part because paying as little as $ 300 could target the company for further extortionate claims. .
"We think this small amount was a ploy to see if we would pay," Heifernan said in a recent blog post. "If we paid the criminals they would just demand a lot more."
Meetup may not succumb to extortion, but there are many companies that pay and keep it secret. Hackers distribute over 5 millions of dollars every year from their victims, according to Symantec security company.
Matthew Prince said his company has requests "every other day" from victims who need internet protection because someone threatens to drop their websites if they do not pay. The CloudFlare service acts as a shield, which diverts malicious traffic from bots, while allowing legitimate visitors to access the site.
In most cyber-extortion cases, victims' websites are down for about 15 minutes. Then, their site comes back, along with an email from the hacker asking for some amount to stop the attack.
"Often, there are hackers who introduce themselves as"White Hat"Security investigators have discovered a bug on the victims' website," said James Aquilina, a former federal cybercrime prosecutor.
"They will ask for $ 50.000 to help fix the security gap," Aquilina said.
Some cybercriminals use special tools designed to blackmail. Last year, a Symantec report demonstrated the growing use of ransomware that can disable individual or corporate systems until someone pays the hacker. Only about 3% of victims pay ransom, but fraud is quite lucrative because hackers have infected thousands of computers with ransomware, according to Symantec.
"They're essentially holding your data hostage," Prince said.
Η Symantec βέβαια γνωρίζει από πρώτο χέρι τι σημαίνει να αντιμετωπίζεις εκβιασμό στον κυβερνοχώρο. Το 2012, η εταιρεία δήλωσε ότι μια ομάδα hackers από τους Anonymous άρχισαν να κυκλοφορούν τον πηγαίο code for one of its products. The hackers then said they would stop if the company gave them $50.000.
Some criminals are quite greedy and demand much more money. 2012, a hacker from Hungary, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment for data theft from Marriott computers. After the hack, he threatened to disclose the data he received from the company if the hotel chain did not give him a 150.000 dollar work per year, free air tickets and hotel rooms of his choice.
