Extortion emails
#EXTORTION EMAILS SOFTWARE#
With the amount of media attention on DDOS attacks that have in been occurring, in particular those committed by the Mirai botnet, the timing of this attack is good.
#EXTORTION EMAILS SOFTWARE#
No software is required to be installed on the target machine, they are banking on the fact that a percentage of the recipients will take the threat seriously enough to pay the relatively modest ransom. However, instead of delivering a malicious payload to whomever they can get to click, this attack uses a targeted approach through the utilization of publicly available information. They also create the sense of urgency with providing only six hours to comply.īoth are tactics employed in most Ransomware attacks. There are indeed some similarities: They are using Bitcoin to accept the payments which is encrypted and nearly impossible to trace. It seems these attackers have taken some pointers from the success that others have had with Cryptographic Ransomware. This type of targeted and customized threat has become the new normal. Each message we analyzed was sent to the registrant email listed in the public Whois record for the target domain. The attackers also appear to be using Whois data to pinpoint their exact targets. Each message appears to be using a unique Bitcoin address. Given the current value of Bitcoin this translates to about $179USD. The recipient is given six hours to comply. The sender promises to commit a distributed denial of service - DDOS - attack, to the tune of 1Tbps, against the recipients website unless they make a one-time payment of. Attackers are currently sending personalized emails attempting to extort money from website owners across the net.
