They then threaten to sell or release the data unless the victim pays a ransom, which can range from $25,000 to $13 million. According to a cybersecurity advisory from the IC3, the Karakurt data extortion group has been contacting victims and claiming that they have already accessed sensitive data. Sometimes, the threat of a data breach might be at the heart of the extortion scheme. With cyber extortions that involve threatening a business with a cyberattack, the cyberattack in question might cause a data breach. One of the most common ways that this could happen is if a ransomware attacker steals data in addition to encrypting it. Data Breach and Threats to Release Sensitive DataĪ cyber extortion attack can result in financial losses and business interruption, but it can also give rise to a data breach. This type of cyber extortion is more like conventional kinds of business extortion, for example, when a criminal threatens to burn down a business if the owner doesn’t pay a “protection” fee. The criminal contacts a business and threatens to release a virus or launch another type of cyberattack unless the business pays a ransom or meets other demands. Whereas ransomware and DoS attacks start with a cyberattack and are then followed by a ransom demand, some cyber extortion schemes work the other way. The business may not be able to operate, or their customers may not be able to reach the company, access their online accounts or make purchases. Regardless of how it’s carried out or what the motive is, a DoS attack can cause significant business interruption. A survey from Cloudflare found that DDoS attacks with ransom demands increased by 175 percent in the last quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter. According to ZDNet, these extortion DoS attacks have become more common. In other cases, the hackers are financially motivated, and they will demand a ransom in order to stop the attack. In some cases, they may have a personal grudge against the target, and this may be politically or socially motivated. Hackers have different reasons for carrying out DoS attacks. In a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, hackers hijack devices that are connected to the internet in order to launch an attack. According to CISA, there are different types of DoS attacks. In a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, the hackers make a targeted website, online account, email or other system inaccessible to the legitimate users by flooding the system with traffic and causing the system to crash. According to Reuters, a grocery store chain had to shut down 800 stores when this happened. In some cases, ransomware attacks can shut down essential systems such as cash registers. If businesses cannot access their files or computer systems, they may not be able to operate effectively, and that can result in loss of income. since many victims do not report ransomware. This is likely only a fraction of the total number of actual attacks in the U.S. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) says that it received 3,729 complaints of ransomware in 2021. However, many cyber extortionists have started making additional threats, such as threatening to publish or sell the sensitive information. Traditionally, cybercriminals have demanded a ransom to release the encryption key so the victim can recover the infected computer files. In this type of digital attack, cybercriminals infect a computer or network with a virus that encrypts the system’s data. These days, when people talk about cyber extortion, they are often talking about a ransomware attack. Companies of all sizes and in all industries can be cyber extortion targets. Some of these crimes are leveraged against individuals, while others target businesses. The term “cyber extortion” can be used to refer to several cybercrimes that involve extortion. If someone threatens to burn down your business or hurt your family unless you pay them, that person is committing extortion. Cyber Extortion DefinitionĮxtortion refers to the illegal use of force or threat to gain something. However, many people are still fuzzy on what cyber extortion is, how cyber extortion insurance works and the best way to keep their company safe. As more and more business practices go online, cyber extortion has become a serious threat. Criminals could target your company, and they don’t even have to be in the same country as you.
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