Press

Additionally to the Meridian Collective, the Xball Team and the Collective Amadeus are currently blackmailing companies by way of DDoS-attacks.

2016 saw ever increasing numbers of large DDoS “hyper” attacks of several 100Gbps and more. It also saw a number of previously unseen DDoS extortion groups emerging and threatening and executing attacks.

A series of unrelenting DDoS attacks has been primarily targeting European and especially German websites since late April. Behind the attacks on ecommerce shops, logistic enterprises and telecommunications providers is a hacker with the Twitter handle @ZZb00t. The LSOC is warning of the attacks that are targeting the original web server IP addresses and internal networks.

Many companies in Germany and Switzerland have received blackmail threats in the name of XMR-Squad since Monday (May 1, 2017). The Link11 Security Operation Center (LSOC) have been monitoring developments closely. The criminal group was recently in the news with its DDoS attacks on Hermes and DHL, but attention quickly dissipated. According to initial analysis, the LSOC assumes that this latest round of blackmailing is the work of copycats.

Following the recent DDoS blackmailing in the name of Stealth Ravens targeting German companies in late January, perpetrators acting under the name of XMR-Squad are now asking for 250 euros for testing (DDoS) protection.

The Cybersecurity 500 List is an annual list of the hottest and most innovative providers of cyber security around the world and was first released in 2014 in the US. At no. 395 on the list for the first quarter of 2017, Link11 is a German security expert with the patent-pending DDoS Protection Platform, which prevents more than 37,000 DDoS attacks a year.

After various impressive hyper attacks of several hundred Gbps during the year of 2016, the DDoS threat is receiving more attention at this year’s CeBIT from IT security decision makers and CIOs. In Hall 6 at booth H16, CeBIT exhibitor Link11 will delve into this key topic with a recently published Link11 DDoS report as well as an expert lecture on the Business Security Stage in Hall 6.

Since the end of January a new DDoS extortion group with the alias Stealth Ravens is active in Germany. Their extortion mails received by ecommerce services are accompanied by warning attacks through a Mirai botnet. The Link11 Security Operation Center (LSOC) is warning online shop providers about DDoS attack reaching more than 10 Gbps.

Germany’s Link11, one of the leading DDoS-Mitigation Providers, who already have a strong presence in mainland Europe is expanding its operations into the United Kingdom.

The new DDoS report for Central Europe shows an increase of DDoS attacks by 36%. Over 9,000 attacks were targeted at servers and infrastructures in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This means that the Link11 Security Operation Center (LSOC) identified and blocked averagely 104 attacks a day. Most attacks were executed on a Saturday or Sunday.