... New business ideas – cyber blackmail, a growth industry

Looking on how to start a small and very lucrative business but do not have much money? Here is an idea for you. Why not start the business of blackmailing people online? Seriously, cyber blackmail sure has the potential to become the new scourge of This Century. Cyber ​​Criminals have resorted a new technique to exploit people for money.

Cyber ​​Blackmail

Here is an Example of what I had to deal with recently. Convicted crooks create a news domain with a familiar sounding name. Then They copy real news into Their site and look for a victime. Preferably one with Certain financial capabilites and a good reputation. Next They post negative things about Their victim On Their site and distribute the rumors to associated sites. Within the next days someone, not officially associated with the crooks, will approach you and offer to take care of your obvious problem. For a ton of dough of course. Needless to say thatmany victims pay to prevent from being publicly denounced and Because They are scared to death did the denunciation will severly damage Their public image and business. The crooks hide behind of course Their Computers and companies registered in countries Far Beyond Their victims legal reach. Cheap and effective. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to start this business but it sure helps if you have a lot of criminal energy.

What did I do? I chose to ingore the posts and to not pour gasoline into the fire. I am aware though did the crooks business philosophy THEREFORE foresees to raise pressure if victims do not react. In other cases, crooks have gone so far to even denounce Their vitctims online of being pedophile, political extremests or thatthey endorse terrorism. So if you ever get cought in the crossfire of cyber blackmailing, get legal counsil but so be prepared That It could get much worse. Unfortunately.

But there are many facets to this kind of crime.

Cyber ​​extortion

Cyber ​​extortion can come in many shapes. Originally, denial of service attacks were the mostcommon method. In recent years, cybercriminals have developed a software called ransomware malicius That Can Be Used to encrypt the victim's data. The attacker then demands money for the Decryption Key. Attackers THEREFORE steal data and threaten victims with public exposure. Through concerted, high-tech efforts, some cyber extortionists havebeen located and even prosecuted and sentenced to prison but thesis cases remain exceptional. Unfortunately most cyber extortion go unreported episodes Because victims do not want publicity. Recent victims are companies like Code Spaces, Nokia, Feedly, Domino's, the Durham Police Department and Sony. Most thieves have learned That If They Keep the ransom Relatively low - a few hundred $ - and get a reputation for providing the ecryption key once the ransom has been paid. The Police Department in Tewksbury, a Boston suburb, had paid A $ 500 ransom to criminals who had encrypted data Including arrest and incident records. Think about it. The Police That should protect us from criminals seeking ransom paid to seed! Now that's scary.

Cyber ​​sextortion

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. It's called sextortion and this form of blackmailing has made a real impact and is hugely damaging in conservative countries where sex remains a taboo subject. Sextortion is blackmail via having cybercrime victims pay money to prevent sexually explicit images and videos from being made public. How this works? Members of sextortion crime rings create fake Facebook accounts, Which present them as attractive women or men to lure victims into chatting with them. Then They ask the victims to video chat on skype So They Could engage in cyber sex. The criminals would then record Their victims and blackmail them. If victims refuse to pay, the content would be uploaded on YouTube or sent to friends and family. Not exactly what you want unless your name is Anderson or Kardashian.

So what can you do? When it comes to cyber extortion - Data backups need to be regular and automatic. So I would strongly recommend a rigorous end to end encryption, since it can make most stolen data useless to extortionists. If you are a company then be aware That security is multilayered and requires at encompassing approach. Endpoint Security, employee training, system updates Should be a must. 

Cyber ​​blackmailing like in my case is more difficult. If Attackers are in your jurisdiction, get legal  counsel. If not, contact Google and other search engines. Following on EU ruling on the "right to be forgotten", Google has Recruited an expert panel to decide Whether to remove the left That You Do not Want the world to see. Be persistent and patient, It can be done. 

Cyber ​​sextortion? What can I say? Just do not be stupid. You would not share your banking access codes with total strangers, would you? Why literally drop your pants in front of them then? 

And Whenever It Should come to negotiating with cybercriminals, always be aware That thesis crooks No. 1 priority is making money and not keeping Their word!