Gambling Sites Prime DoS Targets

Apr 1, 2004 12:00 PM, Paul Rothman

A recent wave of computer attacks from cyber-extortionists have shut down several online gambling Web sites, USA Today reports.

Hackers have demanded anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 to discontinue their “denial-of-service attacks” against the Web sites, which overload the site and shut it down.

BetWWTS.com in Antigua paid $30,000 to hackers when their attacks meant thousands of its customers couldn't place wagers worth an estimated $5 million, CEO Simon Noble says.

Some smaller operations have gone out of business or abandoned Web sites in favor of phone lines to avoid the problem.

“These sites rely on transactions with clients every few seconds. You disrupt that, and you've got major problems,” says Michael Caselli, editor of Online Casino News. “A bank, by comparison, can shut down its site for an hour or two.”

Great Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, which is investigating cases with other law-enforcement agencies, says the problem appears to be confined to gaming sites. But some security experts fear it could spread to banking and other industries that are reluctant to report computer breaches.

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