Extortion wave by Armada Collective in Switzerland
In the wake of the current waves of blackmailing of Swiss companies, the President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Ammann visited the German DDoS protection provider Link11 at CeBIT to find out more about DDoS attacks and how they can be protected.
Affected companies should act quickly and decisively to avoid major damage.
Just like Mr. Schneider-Ammann, every company should take the threat of DDoS attacks seriously. The warning of the Swiss Governmental Computer Emergency Response Team against new blackmailing of Swiss financial institutions by the DDoS blackmailing gang Armada Collective was published on 9 March 2016. Shortly afterwards, blackmail letters reached even large e-commerce companies, in which Armada Collective, as in the past, is demanding a high sum of now 25 Bitcoins.
Otherwise, the company would be attacked with a DDoS attack of gigantic proportions with up to 1 Tbps and thus completely shot out of the network. Last year, Link11, an IT security provider specializing in DDoS protection, already reported in detail about Armada Collective and its approach. The DDoS protection specialists published analyses of attacks in a report, thus demonstrating the urgency of this threat.
Attacks in Switzerland
The new wave of blackmailing coincides with the Link11 Security Operation Center's analysis that the number of DDoS blackmailings by cyber criminals will rise sharply in 2016. In the Link11 DDoS report for the DACH region, Link11 has analysed and processed over 5,000 attacks that were carried out on companies in the DACH region in the fourth quarter of 2015. The report is available for download at this Link.
Almost at the same time as this new wave of blackmailing began, the President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Ammann visited the Link11 stand at this year's CeBIT in Hanover together with Chancellor Merkel to find out about the acute threat posed by DDoS and the protection options available. On site, he and the Chancellor each received a copy of the DACH Report from the two managing directors Jens-Philip Jung and Karsten Desler, which also highlights attacks on Swiss companies.
Link11 has set up an information website free of charge for companies affected by the DDoS blackmail. Here they can register for e-mail alerts from the sensor network to receive warnings of imminent danger in advance. They can then take timely protective measures to ensure the availability of their infrastructure. From their daily practice, Link11 and the authorities advise the blackmailed companies to take the situation seriously.
Affected companies should act quickly and decisively to avoid major damage. After all, as numerous victims have already shown, this is a serious economic threat to companies.
