Florida Man Holds Website Hostage
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 03/08/2017 02:50 PM [ Comments ]
Authorities said 29-year-old Gerard "Jerry" M. McTear III of Fort Myers Florida was arrested after allegedly shutting down a San Diego software company's website and holding it for ransom.
McTear has been charged with threatening to damage and intentionally damaging computers. The company alleges that because of the outage, they lost $5,000 worth of business.
The attack occurred June 6th, 2016.
The DOJ press release made no mention of ransomware, but did state that these types of attacks have become more prevalent. It councils victims to not pay any ransom as that makes the victim appear vulnerable and could lead to additional attacks.
If convicted, McTear faces a prison term of 10 years and a fine of $250,000.
Source: SCMagazine
The attack occurred June 6th, 2016.
The DOJ press release made no mention of ransomware, but did state that these types of attacks have become more prevalent. It councils victims to not pay any ransom as that makes the victim appear vulnerable and could lead to additional attacks.
If convicted, McTear faces a prison term of 10 years and a fine of $250,000.
Source: SCMagazine
Comments