Cyber extortion is when an organized group of
people (in most cases) seizes various databases of a company, while threatening
to cause havoc within its main frame if their demands aren’t met says Raj B Lonsane. They also
blackmail the company about compromising information of customers in the
database, unless large sums of money aren’t transferred as per their demands.
Net extortion is a serious and tricky crime that attackers delve in when they
have hacking knowledge of how to break into a company’s framework. The word
‘threatening’ comes into play when the attackers when they pass comments of
shutting down or messing with the framework to destroy information that could
lead to colossal losses, and reputation damage.
Raj B Lonsane states that it is seen in many movies where blackmail is
used as a way of getting things done/delivered, where attackers use information
to settle the scenario. When big companies are involved, their main frame can
be compromised if the person in question knows how to hack into their
complicated web of firewalls and security codes. Such cases are only done
through a complicated group of individuals that have Internet access to files
and codes, where it would prove to be a huge crisis were the information even
more sensitive than a regular database.
Cases
Involving Cyber Extortion
In the month of January, 2012, one of the
programmers of WIT (Walchi Innovation Technologies), broke into the company’s
security system, changing passwords and access codes that eventually led him to
then shut the database, where customers/others of the company weren’t able to
access the company’s information system. The programmer in question was Jerome
Westrick, who demanded an amount of $300,000 for him to reveal the changed
passwords and codes. The court order against him forced him to give up the information,
and got him to avoid disclosing the same to a third party states Raj B Lonsane.
If the hacker hadn’t been Jerome but someone
from outside of the country, far from the borders from where the actual
scenario is taking place, the person would have gotten away with the crime for
it doesn’t apply to him/her when not within the country’s territory. According to Raj B Lonsane, that is
how net extortion works these days, where companies do not reveal to the media
about such incidents for fear of losing the public’s trust over the whole
episode.
If the hackers are situated in a foreign
country, the possibility of it going national is probable, if the attacker has
nothing to lose while you stand to lose everything says Raj B Lonsane. Money is usually involved,
where programmers can at any given time sell information from the current
company at a price, or demand a ransom from where they work. These acts go
unpunished and unresolved if attackers were to be beyond the borders of where
the company is situated, where if the attackers like Jerome could do it, anyone
could from another continent.
Raj B Lonsane's advice on Steps to
Ensure Security from Cyber Defamation
While many companies will up their security or
install impenetrable firewalls from attackers, the fact is that anyone at any
given that works for the company can turn around and make things difficult. If
the situation is unyielding for the attacker then the information that he/she
holds can put the victims in a tourniquet situation.
a) It is of utmost importance according to Raj B Lonsane that programmers of a company are
supposed to be strictly monitored and confronted on any kind of ground that
caught them messing around with company codes/passwords/security measures. You
cannot trust those you take on as a programmer since they will have access to
all kinds of coding information that is of a sensitive nature.
b)
The security coding involved
has to be so advanced, that not even the programmer can mess into the main
frame without having to encounter problems while accessing sensitive data as per Raj B Lonsane.
c)
The security should be
constantly changed and updated so as to avoid someone becoming familiar with
these over a period time. Raj B Lonsane states that by constantly doing this, you allow yourself to stay
secure by protecting information through various methods of security.
Internet Extortion is a cyber crime that is
usually kept hushed up, where many cases only become public if customers were
to encounter a problem while accessing a website, whether one that holds that
bank details or personal information. Such attackers are finding ways to get a
hold of a company’s database, but it is the company who has to secure itself
properly in order to keep such people at bay says Raj B Lonsane.
