Cybercriminals seeking sensitive data on high net-worth individuals will pay aspiring extortionists an average of $360,000 per year to target executives, lawyers, doctors, and other prominent figures, researchers discovered.
The Digital Shadows Photon Research Team today published “A Tale of Epic Extortions,” a deep dive into the ways cybercriminals prey on individuals’ online exposure. Extortionists take advantage of compromised credentials, sensitive data (documents, intellectual property), and technical vulnerabilities on Internet-facing applications to convince their victims to pay up.
“The extortion landscape is broader and more diverse than any of us thought before we started,” says Rafael Amado, senior strategy and research analyst with Digital Shadows.
Oftentimes, he continues, the technical news that resonates with the infosec community is considered esoteric to everyone else. “Extortion has the human element,” says Amado. “Attacks on organizations have real-world impact for everyday humans on the street.”
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