What are Cyber Extortion Attacks?
Mostly found to be Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS), these attacks affect many online businesses on a daily basis. Examples are not bound by any particular industry and include various sectors such as betting, gaming, travel and government. Disrupted services results in loss of customers and brands are irreversibly damaged in a matter of hours. This form of crime cost companies $4.61 billion in 2005 according to UK’s National Hi-Tech Crime Unit. The true extent of the damage inflicted by DDoS is unclear due to the fact that many businesses are loathed to admit that they have been a victim of cyber extortion and therefore may be vulnerable to future attacks. If network access or systems are critical to the business, then DDoS counter-measures should be part of the business continuity planning and a realistic budget security set.
