Website extortionists rake in over $100,000 without lifting a finger

Found on The Register on Monday, 25 April 2016
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"Our attacks are extremely powerful – sometimes over 1Tbps per second. And we pass CloudFlare and others' remote protections! So, no cheap protection will help," the email warns.

"Our conclusion was a bit of a surprise: we've been unable to find a single incident where the current incarnation of the Armada Collective has actually launched a DDoS attack," said Matthew Prince, CEO of CloudFlare.

There are groups out there performing actual attacks if they don't get a ransom, he said, but this isn't one of them. So if you get an email from the Armada Collective, there's no reason to pay up.

It's actually an easy way to make some money: just claim you are someone else and demand to be paid.