Out-Law News

Russian hackers arrested over bookie blackmail


Russian hackers involved in an extortion racket that cost British business around £40 million in damages were arrested last week in a joint operation between the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit and its Russian counterparts.

The attacks focused on on-line bookies, first targeting their web sites with denial of service (DOS) attacks - where a web server is flooded with requests for information, overwhelming the system and ultimately crashing it – and then threatening the firms themselves with a repeat attack unless money was paid over.

On-line bookmakers are a popular target for extortionists as they have identifiable peaks of business, where a DOS attack would affect profits. The attacks first appeared in October 2003 and were seen in the run up to the US Superbowl in January, and then prior to such events as the Cheltenham horse festival, the biggest horse racing week of the year, and Euro 2004.

Officers from the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit have been working closely with Russia's law enforcement teams and last week announced the arrest of three men in St. Petersburg and the Saratov and Stavropol regions of southwest Russia.

The total number of hackers arrested since the investigation began remains unclear.

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