According to internet security company Symantec, the last six months have seen an escalation in extortion attempts on websites that are time dependent.
Online bookmakers in particular are being targeted by criminal hackers who threaten to flood their servers with so much data that would crash the websites.
A typical attack comprise between one and two gigabits of data per second with the website collapsing under the strain.
If the threat to bring down the site is received just hours before a major event, there may be too little time to do anything except pay up.
“Interpol and the Federal Bureau of Investigations have confirmed that online betting shops are paying out the money. There is money to be made and the criminals have worked out how to do it,” said Patrick Evans, the African regional manager for Symantec.
An industry forum made up of the UK\’s biggest bookmakers has been lobbying internet service providers for several months to convince them to do more to prevent hackers and to distribute firewalls to all their customers.
The forum has also been lobbying MPs to update the Computer Misuse Act (1990) and make DDoS attacks illegal.
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