What is Cyber Extortion? Understanding the Threat and How to Protect Yourself

Cyber extortion is a growing threat. It involves cybercriminals using malicious tactics to demand payment or other forms of compensation, often by threatening to harm individuals, businesses, or their reputations. With cyber extortion incidents on the rise, it’s critical to understand how it works, how to protect yourself, and what to do if you become a victim.

What is Cyber Extortion?

Also known as ransomware, cyber extortion is the use of threats to an individual or organization with the intent of coercing them into giving up something of value in an online scenario. These threats often include:

• Ransomware: Attackers lock files that a victim is using and only provide a decryption key for a certain fee.

• Data breach: Kikemailcrimes and threatening a client to leak commercially sensitive emails until a ransom is paid.

• DDoS: Bombing networks with traffic and distracting their activities until the conditions are met.

• Phishing based extortion: Sending an email or phony messages claiming a certain amount is paid with fake or obscene claims often including victimization.

Such threats range over a wide spectrum and can be directed against an individual, organizations or even government bodies, thus making it a multifaceted menace.

These threats cover a broad range and can target individuals, organizations, or even government entities, making it a complex danger.

How Does Cyber Extortion Work?

The framework of cyber blackmail mostly conform to the following sequence of events :

1. Adversary System Access: Cybercriminals break into the systems of the victim by sending over phishing emails, malicious downloads or taking advantage of unpatched software vulnerabilities.

2. Profiling: With system access, the attackers identify sensitive files or data and services which can be exploited.

3. Cybercrime: The victim is then sent a message accompanied with a threat to expose the stolen data, cause system downtime or hinder normal operations for payment (cyber currency).

4. Fallout: Even if the victim pays the money, the attackers are not obliged to adhere to the promise. If the victim decides not to pay, the perpetrators would most likely carry out their threats.

How to Avoid Cyber Extortion

When considering cyber extortion prevention, first ask yourself what could be done to avoid suffering at the hands of such an attack. Here are appropriate steps that will help in protecting these attacks.

1. Improving Cybersecurity Capabilities

- First, use complex and unique alpha numeric passwords on all your accounts and ensure Multi-Factor Authentication is enabled for all your accounts.

- Ensure all systems and applications used are patched to the latest version available.

- Use a combination of reputable Anti-virus and Anti-malware solutions to protect against early threats.

2. Backing Up

- Ensure that any sensitive and proprietary data is taken backed up regularly and stored in either a safe offline location or in encrypted cloud services.

- Periodically test the backups to ensure reliability and availability.

3. Employee and User Training

- Provide training to the users to identify phishing emails, forged websites and cyber threats and other social engineering techniques which rely on human error.

- Forensic social engineering attacks are mainly reliant on manipulation, hence elaborate awareness of the nature of these attacks.

4. Network Hardening

- To safeguard against outside infiltration, enable firewalls, intrusion detection systems and VPN's.

- Always inspect network flow for abnormal trends and signs of breach.

5. Cyber Extortion Response Plan

- Prepare a plan on what should be done whether pre or post the occurrence of cyber extortion to minimize impact and confusion during attacks.

• Examine the strategies you deployed to ensure that everyone is in sync and ready to act in case something goes wrong

Steps to Take When Dealing with Cyber Extortion

Laws and regulations aside, cyber extortion is something that could still happen despite strong preventive measures. If targeted, do the following-

1. Ignore the ransom

It’s crucial that you understand that paying a ransom is quite risky as there are no guarantees that the attacker will return the encrypt files or hold your data safe. You might literally be paying them not to attack you in the future or someone else.

2. Contain the Threat

Disengage the infected machines from the rest of the network to hamper the attack and make sure that it doesn't spread.

3. Report the Incident

Call the local cops or even the cybercrime agencies. Civil awareness is really useful when it comes down to identifying cyber attackers and restoring data.

4. Get in Touch with Cyber Experts

Engage well-versed professionals that will help you recognize the magnitude of the strike, and get back the compromised files, and also make sure your systems stay breach free.

5. Inform About Affected Users

In case of sensitive customer, employee, or stakeholder’s data, you should take the risk of communication to stay within compliance and constant communication.

6. Enhance Security After the Attack

Review the event to see how it unfolded and develop a counter strategy that can help mitigate similar breaches in the future.

Please contact us if you're a victim and need help.