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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

2014: The Year Extortion Went Mainstream

Summary: At least four U.S. businesses reported receiving mailed "Notice of Extortion" letters demanding one bitcoin (about $561) by a set date, rising to three bitcoins (about $1,683) if unpaid, and threatening negative reviews, Better Business Bureau complaints, harassing calls, telephone denial-of-service, bomb threats, fraudulent delivery orders, vandalism and mercury contamination reports. All three letters posted online targeted pizza stores, at least two were mailed from Orlando, Florida, and the article attributes the shift to Bitcoin's anonymity, with SANS's Alan Paller calling extortion the shortest path from cybercrime to cash.

Bottom line: The fraudster's cost here was a stamp and an envelope, while the FBI estimated CryptoLocker alone stole more than $27 million from victims - and SANS's Paller notes successful extortion is never reported, so the losses you can count are only the ones someone chose to disclose.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Data Breaches
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