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.
