E-Tailer Offers $23,000 to Catch DDoS Attackers Demanding Bitcoin

A UK e-tailer is offering a $23,181 (£15,000) bounty to catch those who launched a DDoS attack against the firm’s site before demanding a bitcoin ransom.

Aria Taheri, the owner and managing director of Aria Technology told CRN his company’s website was compromised on Monday afternoon and hackers requested payment of 16.66 bitcoins (approximately $4,433.89).

The company also took to Twitter to advertise its bounty offer:

Remember our website went down yesterday..it was attackers! Help us catch them and we’ll reward you £15000! #retweet pic.twitter.com/wQfJOf0ss7

— Aria PC Technology (@Aria_Technology) October 20, 2015

Speaking to CRN, Taheri added that he would not pay the bitcoin ransom as doing so would encourage mimic attacks and further blackmailing efforts, adding:

“The message to the hackers is that I will spend a significant amount of money to bring them to justice. Our track record shows that we have done that before, and based on that track record I am fairly confident we can do that [again].”

If unpaid, Taheri said the attackers had threatened to take down the company’s site for the whole of today (Wednesday 21st October).

Aria Technology’s website was online at the time of press.

Bitcoin ransoms

Earlier this year, extortionist group DD4BC made the headlines as it appeared to be connected to a series of DDoS attacks carried out against various organisations in Switzerland, New Zealand and Australia. At the time, the group requested a ransom of 25 BTC.

A report published by Akamai Technologies – a content delivery network and cloud services provider – in September identified 114 attacks carried out by DD4BC since April.

Two of the biggest banks in Hong Kong were also targeted with DDoS attacks and faced bitcoin ransom demands earlier this year.

Money image via Shutterstock.