Bitcoin and Tech Companies Recover from Bitcoin Ransom DDoS Attack

Since the beginning of 2015, more and more technology companies and Bitcoin startups have been attacked by anonymous hackers and asked to pay Bitcoin ransoms.

Major bitcoin exchange Kraken and encrypted email service provider Protonmail were two of the victims of an extremely powerful distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that took some of their servers and databases offline for several weeks.

According to Protonmail, hackers began targeting a data center in Geneva that it shared with other Swiss technology companies, and the team had no choice but to pay a $6,000 Bitcoin ransom, demanding that the hackers immediately end the DDoS attack.

"The coordinated attack on our ISPs exceeded 100Gbps and hit not only data centers, but also routers in Zurich, Frankfurt, and other locations. The coordinated attack on critical infrastructure ultimately succeeded in bringing down both the data center and the ISP, affecting hundreds of other companies, not just ProtonMail," the company announced.

However, the attacks continued, and the Swiss Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Group and the Swiss government's Computer Emergency Response Team conducted a national investigation and developed a plan to stop the hackers and help tech companies mitigate the attacks.

“We have been working with the Swiss Government Computer Emergency Response Team (GovCERT) and the Swiss Cybercrime Coordination Group (CYCO) as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, which is being conducted in Switzerland with the assistance of Europol.”

Kraken

Kraken, a San Francisco-based bitcoin exchange, also received a blackmail letter after suffering a long-term DDoS attack, which lasted from October 31 to the present and is expected to continue.

"Currently the site is still under DDoS attack. The extortion letter has been received, but apparently, the ransom will not be paid. Please understand us," Kraken reported.

Currently, services of Kraken and Protonmail are back to normal, and the Swiss tech companies announced the continuation of their online operations.

“Systems are now back to normal,” the Kraken team announced on Twitter.

NewsBTC

Yesterday, the newsBTC team also received a Bitcoin ransom email from an anonymous hacker. In the past two days, they launched two large DDoS attacks.

However, newsBTC has successfully mitigated the attack and refused to pay the ransom.

According to a blackmail letter received by newsBTC earlier this morning, the hackers demanded 1 Bitcoin in exchange for ending the DDoS attack.

By Joseph Young

Compiled by: [email protected]