Businesses are Threatened With DDoS Extortion Attacks
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 08/05/2015 09:11 AM
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In a new gambit, cyber criminals are taking a new approach to extortion. The hackers are threatening companies with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack unless a ransom is paid. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued the alert.
The threats are usually delivered in an email, the ransom may vary, but most always involve the payment method to be Bitcoins. If the ransom is not paid, a second email will be sent demanding an increased amount.
If a DDoS attack was initiated, it consisted mostly of Simple Discovery Protocol (SSDP) and Network Time Protocol (NTP) reflection/amplification attacks. Most attacks last two to three hours. They have a physical limit of 30 to 45 gigabytes.
The FBI is aware of the threats and believes multiple people are involved in the scam. They expect that the threats will spread to online industries and other targeted sectors.
The FBI recommends not communicating with the subject and implementing DDoS mitigation solutions preemptively.
Source: SCMagazine
The threats are usually delivered in an email, the ransom may vary, but most always involve the payment method to be Bitcoins. If the ransom is not paid, a second email will be sent demanding an increased amount. If a DDoS attack was initiated, it consisted mostly of Simple Discovery Protocol (SSDP) and Network Time Protocol (NTP) reflection/amplification attacks. Most attacks last two to three hours. They have a physical limit of 30 to 45 gigabytes.
The FBI is aware of the threats and believes multiple people are involved in the scam. They expect that the threats will spread to online industries and other targeted sectors.
The FBI recommends not communicating with the subject and implementing DDoS mitigation solutions preemptively.
Source: SCMagazine
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