14 DAY TRIAL // In an advisory published in January, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) warned that payday loan scammers started launching telephony denial-of-service (TDOS) attacks against emergency services in an effort to prevent them from receiving and responding to emergency calls.
In such schemes, the fraudsters demand a certain amount of money to stop the attacks.
Now, according to security expert Brian Krebs, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have issued a confidential alert to warn emergency communications centers and public safety answering points (not the 911 service) about such TDOS attacks.
“These recent TDoS attacks are part of an extortion scheme. This scheme starts with a phone call to an organization from an individual claiming to represent a collections company for payday loans. The caller usually has a strong accent of some sort and asks to speak with a current or former employee concerning an outstanding debt,” the alert reads.
“Failing to get payment from an individual or organization, the perpetrator launches a TDoS attack. The organization will be inundated with a continuous stream of calls for an unspecified, but lengthy period of time,” it continues.
“The attack can prevent both incoming and/or outgoing calls from being completed. It is speculated that government offices/emergency services are being ‘targeted’ because of the necessity of functional phone lines.”
Unfortunately, as Brian Krebs highlights, many cybercriminals offer TDOS services for small amounts of money. Furthermore, these types of attacks are difficult to detect because the caller ID is changed on every call.
US authorities advise organizations targeted by such attacks to contact them and provide them with information such as call logs, traffic characteristics, and other caller details. Victims are recommended not to pay the blackmail.