Crime gangs extort money with hacking threat

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2003 09:57:21 -0300
From: Claudio Gutierrez <cgutierrez () improvement cl>
Subject: **SPAM** Crime gangs extort money with hacking threat
To: dave () farber net

By Chris Nuttall, Financial Times

Evidence of a new type of international extortion racket emerged on
Tuesday with revelations that blackmailers have been exploiting computer
hacking techniques to threaten the ability of companies to conduct
business online.

<snip>


Sites have been asked to pay up to $50,000 to ensure they are free from
attacks for a year. Police are urging any victims not to give in to
blackmail and report the crime.

Detective Superintendent Mick Deats, head of operations at the NHTCU,
said: "This is a protection racket. The message to these companies is
'You pay and we leave you alone'.

"If the demand comes in for $40,000-50,000, compared to the losses
they're suffering, there's an attraction for the companies to pay and
hope it goes away. But there's nothing to say it will go away."

http://tinyurl.com/uonw

--
Claudio Gutiérrez
http://www.improvement.cl

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