Brick and Mortar Denial of Service Attacks are a Thing Now
The cyber tactic of taking down an online business by web flooding has now fully crossed over into the real brick and mortar world. Bandits are sending threatening letters to businesses warning they will suffer from bad online reviews, harassing threats from police and fire departments and more if they don’t cough up bitcoins.
According to @SylviasOven, three Pizzerias have received a Bitcoin Notice of Extortion mail: https://t.co/SpHJoPLOzW pic.twitter.com/IQfsxM5Ado
— Mikko Hypponen (@mikko) June 22, 2014
This would be a difficult attack to defend against. Online reviews can make or break a restaurant, and reports of health code violations, reports to drug agencies and more could wreak havoc with operations. The best way to defend is to post such threats online and in the store where customers can see what the owner is dealing with. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
