Porn Purveyors Getting Squeezed
from the e-blackmail dept
It used to be that electronic blackmailers would find a security hole in your site, and then try to charge you to fix it. Now, folks with some denial of service tools are suddenly getting into the "e-protection" racket. A number of porn websites are saying that they're being targetted by an online extortionist who is threatening to take down their sites if they don't pay up. So far, he's already knocked out a few. The blackmailer seems to be counting on the fact that many porn operator site owners have no interest in talking to the FBI (or, if they do, that the FBI would have little incentive in protecting them). No one admits to having paid off the guy, but many say that other site owners they know did so. One owner did end up going to the FBI, who is looking into the matter. Others however, say that the industry is likely to take care of the matter in their own way, with a few suggestions that they're going to track down the guy themselves. Sounds like the online world is starting to mimic the offline organized crime world.
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