Racketeering in the information age

Evidencece 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.

Gangs based in Eastern Europe have been found to have been launching waves of attacks on corporate networks, costing the companies millions of dollars in lost business and exposing them to blackmail.

The most recent cases of affected companies have surfaced in Britain where the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) is investigating how one betting site was brought down and then received a threat that it would be attacked again unless tens of thousands of pounds were paid. It is co-operating with international law enforcement agencies, with the perpetrators thought to be based in Eastern Europe.

Ian Morris, founder of Equip Technology, a systems security integrator, said: "We've dealt with six cases now and it's got to be multiples of that, and not just in the UK, it's obviously a worldwide problem.

"They seem to be targeting high-volume low-value transactional sites."

The attacks involve gangs commandeering as many as hundreds of computers through hacking methods to use without their owners' knowledge. A command is then issued to each one simultaneously to make a series of bogus requests to the servers of the victim. The weight of traffic brings the servers to a halt and legitimate requests to carry out transactions cannot be completed.

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