DDoS - The Million Dollar Blackmail

Cyberspace blackmailers demanded $50,000 from a UK entrepreneur to call off a DDoS attack.

A DDoS attack can shut down websites. As an act of industrial cyber sabotage, DDoS (distributed denial of service) can be commercially devastating. In 2006, Alex Tew was a 21-year old e-commerce success story. As a student, he launched the ‘million dollar’ website; a site that was divided into 10,000 small squares sold off to advertisers for $100 a piece. The idea generated enormous publicity and captured the hearts and minds of every budding get-rich-quick dreamer. But it also captured the attention of cyber criminals.

Cyber criminals threaten DDoS attack
Cyberspace blackmailers hijacked the million dollar website demanding $500,000 to call off their DDoS attack which caused the site to crash. The milliondollarhomepage.com made its student founder Tew rich – his aim was to pay off his student debts, but little did he know he’d be held at virtual ransom. The blackmailers routinely use DDoS attacks to target commercial outfits; they extort money in order to call off their attacks. Many attacks have been linked to Russia, where an underworld of DDoS illegal activity is cultivated by cybercriminals. The criminal gang that targeted Tew called themselves, ‘The Dark Group’ and sent Mr Tew an email containing a ransom note demanding the money.

DDos threat – blackmailing the million dollar site
The power of a DDoS attack was felt when Mr Tew refused to pay the ransom, the note said: “We’re capable to take your site down.” Sure enough a DDoS attack was launched threatening to crash the site before another ransom email was sent, demanding more money.
The email was reprinted in an article in the Times newspaper, it read: "hello u website is under us atack to stop the ddos send us 50000$ … if u do not pay -u site NEVER came online … -u have BIG problem with u sponsors … u must answer TODAY."

DDoS attack brought down website
DDoS attacks flood websites with more traffic than they can handle, causing them to crash. The bad English in the ransom note led investigators to believe the DDoS threat was Russian, but DDoS attacks are incredibly difficult to trace. The DDoS attack resulted in viewers to the million dollar homepage being met with an error page saying ‘forbidden…don’t come back you sly dog!’

DDoS protection crucial
The high profile case highlighted the importance of DDoS protection for companies that rely on e-commerce, although Mr Tew stepped up his efforts of security after the DDoS attack, the hackers stepped up their game. DDoS attacks are increasingly common; they are launched from infected PCs that can be controlled through viruses by hackers. The million dollar website was clearly a high profile, easy target – cyber criminals target businesses that they know will lose money by going offline, so online shops and major retailers are particularly vulnerable.

Webscreen is an IT network security technology that is designed to protect Web servers and other network appliances from a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). A DDoS attack is a deliberate attempt (malicious) to stop a Web site from working by flooding it with thousands or simultaneous connections. This is usually done for financial gain but can be for political or commercial reasons. Webscreen's unique Guarantee of Service (GoS) technology not only mitigates the impact of denial of service (DDoS) attacks but enables IT managers to maintain access for critical users and priority customers during any high level network activity period. Including a range of network optimisation and monitoring tools, Webscreen helps deliver maximum performance from network infrastructure resources. Find out more, contact Webscreen call 0870 3890022