A trade group has issued a warning about a massive DDoS attack to extort money from Voice over IP (VoIP) providers globally.
According to Comms Council UK, “many” of its members and overseas suppliers were targeted over the last four weeks as part of a concerted extortion attempt by experienced cyber-criminals.
As per its statement, attacks against its members constitute attacks on the foundations of UK infrastructure since they provide telecommunications services to essential infrastructure organizations such as the police, NHS, and other public agencies.
There weren’t any additional technical specifics regarding the DDoS attacks. However, a representative revealed to the BBC that they were on an “unprecedented” scale and the whole global sector was at risk.
The statement also disclosed that they’re working closely with the UK government, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Ofcom, and foreign authorities to share information and data about the cyberattacks, hoping to end the illegal behavior soon as possible.
According to ESET cybersecurity expert Jake Moore, DDoS may be employed in the same way as ransomware, despite the latter’s recent rise in popularity.
He explained that the criminals behind this appear to be using these operations as a model for other VoIP providers, threatening them with similar attacks until they agree to pay a large ransom. On the other hand, paying ransoms does not ensure that they will cease, and it may even raise the demand.
As more IoT devices come online with insufficient or no security, more devices will be hacked and deployed in massive networks to target specific victims.
