Some people may remember the Armada Collective, a group of hackers extorting website owners. Their method of operation revolves around shutting down online platforms with strong DDoS attacks. Unless the operator pays a Bitcoin ransom, those attacks will not relent. After things had been rather quiet around this group for some time, it looks like they surfaced again.
Is This The Real Armada Collective?
Various reports have surfaced regarding a new email being sent out by the Armada Collective. This notorious group of hackers is well-known for shutting down websites through relentless distributed denial of service attacks. Despite solutions offered by various providers and companies, preventing such an attack is pretty much impossible without spending a fortune.
This is another reason why this collective has been so successful over the past years. They start out slowly, by flooding websites with traffic. Once they succeed in doing so, the site owners will get contacted. An offer is extended to pay a Bitcoin ransom to ensure the attacks will stop. While that is no guarantee for success, the Armada Collective holds up their end of the bargain in most cases.
At the same time, people have to keep in mind this group of hackers has not been active for quite some time. Rumours are circulating about the members being arrested in late 2015, albeit that has never been officially confirmed. The DDoS attacks had subsided since that period, though, which seems to confirm some of these suspicions.
That being said, emails are being sent out to website owners who are dealing with DDoS attacks as of late. It is impossible to confirm whether or not these messages are from the original Armada Collective team or just a copycat. It would not be the first time petty criminals ride the coattails of a bigger group of hackers in an attempt to make money.
For the time being, it is advised not to pay the ransom demands. Even if the requests would come from the Armada Collective, giving in to these demands is not a smart decision. Once hackers know someone will pay up to deal with trouble, they will be back with a larger demand.
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