Sextortion is no longer an isolated case – but a mass phenomenon with a high potential for danger. Through malware such as Phorpiex, millions of unsuspecting users become part of a botnet that sends tens of thousands of extortion emails every hour. The attacks indiscriminately target private individuals as well as managers or employees – often with frighteningly real personal data. The result: great psychological pressure and a high risk for companies if those affected react thoughtlessly.
New malware is making sextortion a dangerous mass phenomenon in 2019. The Phorpiex malware connects numerous computers of unwitting users to a botnet that can send up to 30,000 extortion emails per hour. 27 million victims – private individuals as well as employees – can be reached via such spam campaigns. Blackmailed employees then endanger the systems, data and reputation of their employers through ignorance! (Source: pctipp)
Sextortion spam campaigns can affect absolutely anyone – private or professional – as the criminals usually operate with absolute arbitrariness. Email addresses come from past data leaks and thefts or – as mentioned above – from private address books that have been spied on via malware.
Security experts repeatedly observe a particularly insidious sextortion scam that targets executives and high-net-worth individuals. For this purpose, current or former employees and employees are bribed by criminals in order to obtain personal and professional information.
With the help of this data, the hackers succeed in carrying out extremely dangerous sextortion attacks – as they combine their extortion attempt with real data such as names, addresses or passwords, thus making them very credible. The victims are therefore more willing to give in to the demands of the blackmailers.
Want to better understand how to protect yourself against sextortion?
