CNN picks up DOS attack story

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http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/30/internet.crime.reut/index.html

Shakedown of gambling sites before Super Bowl
E-mail threat: 'Pay up or you will go down'

Friday, January 30, 2004 Posted: 6:02 PM EST (2302 GMT)
Bettors check out the odds in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. Sunday is a huge day for sports wagering in Vegas and on the Internet.
Bettors check out the odds in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. Sunday is a big day for sports wagering in Vegas and on the Internet.
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Organized crime gangs are shaking down Internet betting sites on the eve of American football's Super Bowl, threatening to unleash a crippling data attack unless they pay a "protection" fee, police and site operators said.

Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) said it is investigating a series of attacks and threats of attacks on companies in the United Kingdom.

But security experts say sites based in the Caribbean and continental Europe have also been targeted.

"These are not groups of amateur hackers -- great deals of money are changing hands," said an NHCTU spokesman. "These are for-profit crimes and all intelligence suggests that organized crime is involved."

One such target is Curacao-based VIP Management Services, which runs seven gambling sites including www.VIPSports.com and www.Betgameday.com.
"We were first targeted in September and have been under intermittent attack ever since," said Alistair Assheton, managing director of the privately held six-year-old firm.

The so-called denial-of-service attacks, which can disable a corporate data network with a barrage of bogus data requests, are a standard tool for hackers aiming to knock out a site.

Lately, police say, crime gangs have adapted it to extort businesses. Security experts and police said they believe the gangs are based in Eastern Europe and Russia, taking advantage of the region's weak cyber crime laws and its legions of savvy programmers.

Assheton said that this week he received the latest threat via e-mail. It was a demand for $30,000 to be wired via Western Union to the extortionist's account or risk being hit. "They essentially said 'pay up or you will go down for the Super Bowl,"' he said.

Police sources said this type of cyber "protection racket" has grown in recent months. The risk of being knocked offline by a digital attack on Super Bowl weekend, one of the busiest betting periods of the year, could doom a gambling site.

Jeffrey Weber, who writes an online news letter dedicated to the industry, called www.Alltopsportsbooks.com, estimated an outage of a few hours is costly. "That's $500,000 to $1 million dollars worth of action wiped out in one shot," he said.

A copy of an e-mail extortion threat distributed earlier this month demanded sites pay $15,000 for six months' worth of protection.

"If you wait to make a deal with us when the attacks start, it will cost you $25,000 for six months protection and the lost revenues as your site will stay down until the $25,000 is received," the e-mail threat said.

Weber said a number of small sites have paid up, calculating it would be cheaper than going dark during a busy period. "It's almost like the criminal elements of the neighborhood bookmakers has merged with the world of online bookmakers," he said.

Noting the relatively small sums demanded -- to ensure the victim does not go out of business and can continue to pay up -- security and law enforcement sources said they believe this is the work of gangs with experience in such shakedown schemes.

"This is very professional," said one security expert.

The Net crime wave is not exactly new. Extortionists and crime groups have targeted businesses of all sizes since the early days of e-commerce.

Law enforcement has been hampered because until recently companies were reluctant to report the incidents for fear of hurting their business reputation. Police hope a recent spirit of cooperation will help their cause.
 

RPM

OG
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maybe with the nhtcu on the case, these people will be stopped?
 

There's always next year, like in 75, 90-93, 99 &
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Not to be a prick, but CNN could use a better editor ..

A copy of an e-mail extortion threat distributed earlier this month demanded sites pay $15,000 for six months' worth of protection.

"If you wait to make a deal with us when the attacks start, it will cost you $25,000 for six months protection and the lost revenues as your site will stay down until the $25,000 is received," the e-mail threat said.


These guys are worse than Danny May when it comes to numbers
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I don't get where the error is Lander, if you pay up before the attacks, its 15,000. If you wait till they start attacking you, its 25K. Thats what the original email stated.
 

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I'm waiting for the day when one or more of these hackers gets murdered. I'm not too far from the scene so I may even be interested in some reconnaissance work to help in the logistics of a hit if someone out there wants to hire me
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not only cnn even the european cable-providers are on top of this story...
they "overmonitored" this afternoon so that even cable TV went down for about 5s

greetz
forgi
 

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by overdog:
I don't get where the error is Lander, if you pay up before the attacks, its 15,000. If you wait till they start attacking you, its 25K. Thats what the original email stated.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Correct. If you wait for the attacks, the payment is $25,000. But the hackers are nice enough to offer an "early bird" discount for only $15,000!
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posted by Darryl Parsons:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
I'm waiting for the day when one or more of these hackers gets murdered.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

May be coming sooner than you think ... it is not impossible to trace these guys down any more than it is to trace anybody else, just very difficult. But once you have a crew that has fallen into a particular pattern, it's just matter of time.

There are already substantial rewards being offered for information from parties that do not seem the type to just turn said information over to Interpol. The day some script kiddie turns up with his hands chopped off for playing around with his keyboard too much is the day these attacks dropp off substantially.


Phaedrus
 
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Phaedrus, I cant wait for that day to arrive! These clowns should have stopped the first time any book gave them money and been happy. They got greedy and now its not will they be caught, its when will they be caught. Cant wait to see the greaseball brought into court with all there little friends in cuffs and put away for a long time.

Cowards have no place in our society!!!
 
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any chance to think that maybe this attacks comes from ours ISP, instead russian hackers?

think about it!!!!!!

ISP knows the kind of bussiness we have, this could be a round bussiness taking us down for a while and then making us pay for security.

I dunno, maybe i just tinking with my ass, but is just a opinion!!!!!!
 

Don Corleone's most prized retainer......
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Phaedrus:
posted by Darryl Parsons:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
I'm waiting for the day when one or more of these hackers gets murdered.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The day some script kiddie turns up with his hands chopped off for playing around with his keyboard too much is the day these attacks dropp off substantially.


Phaedrus<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


In the book The Godfather, Luca Brasi is send to the train station to pick up two of Al Capone's hit men sent to whack Vito Corleone. Luca takes them to an abandoned warehouse and cuts their legs off with an axe, first at the ankles, then at the knees, and finally where the leg joins the torso........
 

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