Extortion hackers have sent demands to numerous UK companies

Businesses throughout the UK have received extortion demands from an online hacking group, Action Fraud has warned.
Action FraudAction Fraud
Action Fraud

The group have sent emails demanding payment in the online currency Bitcoins to be paid by a certain time and date. The email states that this demand will increase by 5 Bitcoins for each day that it goes unpaid.

If their demand for five Bitcoin, equivelent to £1,500, is not met, they have threatened to launch an attack against the businesses’ websites and networks. The 'Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)' will take them offline until payment is made.

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Action Fraud said the demand states that once their actions have started, they cannot be undone, and if anyone receives the demands, they are not to pay the demand, and call 0300 123 2040 or by using the online reporting tool.

To help investigators, retain the original emails (with headers) and log a timeline of the attack, recording all times, type and content of the contact.

If you are experiencing a DDoS right now you should:

- Report it to Action Fraud immediately.

- Call your Internet Service Provider (ISP) (or hosting provider if you do not host your own Web server), tell them you are under attack and ask for help.

- Keep a timeline of events and save server logs, web logs, email logs, any packet capture, network graphs, reports etc.

- Get Safe Online top tips for protecting your business from a DDoS.