Large DDoS, small extortion

Sat May 24 16:29:14 UTC 2014

> Law enforcement and victims have different objectives.  Law enforcement
> wants to find the criminal, gather sufficient evidence to prove their
> guilt, then prosecute them.  More attacks helps law enforcement.
> 
> The victims, in general, want the attacks to stop.

Actually, our experience in this particular case  (it is the same person(s) hitting all of the targets, even using the same email addresses, etc.) is that the victims want to find the guy too.  In fact, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that the coordinated efforts of a dedicated group of "victims", who have come together without regards to the fact that they are otherwise 'competitors' in business, and who have furnished the agencies with useable technical information about the attacks, have given the agencies a substantial leg up in the investigation.

Anne

Anne P. Mitchell, 
Attorney at Law
CEO/President
Institute for Social Internet Public Policy
Member, Cal. Bar Cyberspace Law Committee
Author: Section 6 of the Federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
Ret. Professor of Law, Lincoln Law School of San Jose