E-mail Extortion Campaigns Threatening Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

Citation
Internet Crime Complaint Center, E-mail Extortion Campaigns Threatening Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (June 23, 2015) (full-text).

Overview
This FBI alert warns businesses of a scam where the victim business receives an e-mail threatening a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack to its Website unless it pays a ransom. Ransoms vary in price and are usually demanded in Bitcoin.

Victims that do not pay the ransom receive a subsequent threatening e-mail claiming that the ransom will significantly increase if the victim fails to pay within the time frame given. Some businesses reported implementing DDoS mitigation services as a precaution.