“Online gambling sites are betting on tighter security after a recent wave of computer attacks from cyberextortionists plunged several into darkness. Shadowy hackers demand $20,000 to $50,000 for protection from distributed denial-of-service attacks, which flood a Web site with data so that it is overloaded.
BetWWTS.com in Antigua was forced to pay $30,000 when hackers shuttered its site and thousands of its customers couldn’t place wagers worth an estimated $5 million, CEO Simon Noble says.
It’s one of the lucky ones. Since the attacks started a few months ago, a handful of smaller operations have gone out of business or abandoned Web sites in favor of phones to avoid the problem.
“These sites rely on transactions with clients every few seconds. You disrupt that, and you’ve got major problems,” says Michael Caselli, editor of Online Casino News. “A bank, by comparison, can shut down its site for an hour or two.””
The modus operandi is scary:
“Gangs of computer crooks allegedly operating out of Eastern Europe have collected protection money from 10% to 15% of the companies they have threatened, says DK Matai, executive chairman of security company MI2G.
Most issue ultimatums in e-mail messages in the days leading to major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl. Often, threats are issued after an attack, demanding that American currency be sent to a Western Union office.
BoDog Sportsbook & Casino in Costa Rica was forced to pay more than $20,000 last fall when hackers immobilized its site, says Rob Gillespie, the company’s president.”
Since Internet gambling is illegal in the U.S., many of these sites have no recourse under American law. More generally, it is hard to identify and pin down the cyberextortionists.
Here is the full story. It is not an encouraging development, and I fear that technological developments will lead to far more anti-corporate extortion in the future, whether directed at gambling firms or not.
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