[bigboydan]

SkyBook (SBR rating B) website under Denial of Service attack. Players can contact the book by calling 888-759-2665 or 800-809-3246 or through LiveChat here. Players can track the book's progress against the attack: Skybook Website Monitor

[katstale]

I can only imagine since this is happening to Skybook and BOL that the following linkage is the reason:

they don't offer Moneybookers

Of course I didn't know something like this would happen to these poor folks, but I have been imploring them to offer MB for a long time. Probably some poor cold Canadian just got really mad and decided to make a point.

Ok, Sky and BOL--give in and offer MB to our Canadian brothers. It is a win-win situation for everyone?!

[Red_Sux]

yep...page not loading for me. oh well, i don't have an account there anyways

[DukeJohn]

Well, I was going to open an account with them today. However, guess I will wait until everything is working.

[HedgeHog]

You can get into Skybook with their new site: SkybookSports.com

[bigboydan]

Here are the current list of Skybook mirror sites:

www.skybooksports.com
http://www.skybook-sportsbook.com/
www2.skybook.com

[chemist]

I hope they don't pay them.

[Red_Sux]

if i am the book, i won't pay under any condition. if i pay, then the terrorist wn. i'd rather spend the ransom money on buy more sophisticated equipment to counter DOS attacks.

[DukeJohn]

You can get into Skybook with their new site: SkybookSports.com

Yes, but I don't think, at this time you can wager with that site. At least I couldn't bring up their live lines.

I hope they don't pay them.

I really hope not either. If they can't get a handle on this, it could cripple them.

[Doug]

Seems an odd place to target, not really a big book.

[chemist]

Bullies generally prefer to pick on weaklings.

[HedgeHog]

Yes, but I don't think, at this time you can wager with that site. At least I couldn't bring up their live lines.



I really hope not either. If they can't get a handle on this, it could cripple them.

Duke:

I made several Arena FB and NBA bets there earlier today. Mirror site works fine for me.

[purecarnagge]

Skybook is a great book to play at. Super Fast payouts, and great communication.

Sad to see this happening to them.

[jjgold]

Better to pay , long term you make more money

[ritehook]

Mirror site works fine, I put a small teaser in just to see.

I understand most of these DOS attacks originate in Russia and also the Orient.

They love to attack sportsbooks that take bets from the US, as those books are not going to ask this country for help.

Hey, thanks George and Dirty Dick.

[ritehook]

Better to pay , long term you make more money

That's wrong, Coach. If you pay they'll be back at you on a regular basis.

[jjgold]

True but if you do tons of volume it is cheaper to pay

[purecarnagge]

DOS attack... JJ thought that was just what hookers said when they refused to take his money...and attempted to beat him down for it...

[dwaechte]

What is the dispute that is causing the attack?

[ritehook]

Depends on the cost. I'd love to know how much these cybercrooks are asking to let up on the DoS attack.

Don't think any book will ever tell us.

[ritehook]

What is the dispute that is causing the attack?

It's not a dispute.

Cybercrooks, mainly operating out of Russia, China or like that (probably not Nigeria, not enough tech skills) try to blackmail a book by overloading their servers, shutting them down.

For cold, hard cash they will lift the attack.

[DukeJohn]

It's not a dispute.

Cybercrooks, mainly operating out of Russia, China or like that (probably not Nigeria, not enough tech skills) try to blackmail a book by overloading their servers, shutting them down.

For cold, hard cash they will lift the attack.

I remember about two years ago or so, Canbet, had paid to get them to stop. They did it to them two more times, each time getting more money. At some point, Canbet brought in the authorities and released the information. Wait, I'll Google it. Okay the following is the information, happened in 2003 to Canbet.

PC World July 21, 2004:

Law enforcement officials in the U.K. and Russia have cracked down on a major extortion ring accused of prying hundreds of thousands of dollars from online sports betting Web sites, according to a statement from the U.K.'s National Hi-Tech Crime Unit.

Three men, ages 21, 22, and 24, were taken into custody this week in separate arrests in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Saratov and Stavropol regions of southwest Russia. The men have not been charged, but are believed to be part of a ring that uses legions of compromised or "zombie" computers to launch denial of service attacks against online sports betting parlors ("sports books") that refuse to pay protection money, says Felicity Bull, a spokesperson for the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU).

In DoS attacks, Web servers are flooded with junk data and network traffic from thousands of machines, preventing them from responding to legitimate requests.

Under Investigation
The NHTCU is a law enforcement agency that investigates U.K. computer crime. It worked with their counterparts in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), including the MVD's computer crimes specialist department and Investigative Committee, according to a NHTCU statement.

The arrests this week follow a complaint in October 2003, by Canbet Sports Bookmakers UK, which was forced to pay protection money to prevent its Web site from being attacked, Bull says.

NHTCU and Russian investigators used traditional investigative techniques and computer forensics to trace the extortionists back to Russia and identify them, using information on the source of the DoS attacks and money transfer records. Authorities arrested 10 members of the online extortion gang in Riga, Latvia in November 2003. Those arrests led to the men in Russia, Bull says.

Money transfer agencies helped the NHTCU track the funds, and law enforcement agencies in Australia, Canada, Estonia and the U.S. aided in the investigation, the NHTCU says in a statement.

Organized Crime
Authorities believe that organized criminal groups in Russia and other countries run the extortion ring. However, Bull notes that the three men arrested have not yet been charged, that the investigation is continuing and that more arrests are possible. Russian investigators seized computer equipment from the men, which may provide further clues about the criminal gang, she says.

Authorities still do not know how much money the group collected from sports books--though the figure is believed to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars--or how many sports books it extorted, Bull says.

Online sportsbooks use sophisticated Web pages to post odds and collect wagers on a wide range of sporting events. Online sports wagering is illegal in the U.S., but legal in the U.K. and other countries.

In the last year, online sports books have become frequent targets of online criminal gangs that are attracted to the cash-rich virtual betting parlors, which often keep between $300 million and $400 million on hand to cover bets, according to Dave Matthews, site administrator of Las Vegas Advisor, an online publication serving the gaming industry.

Demands for protection money vary, but typically range from $10,000 for small sites to $40,000 or more for larger operations, says Amran Pena, an information technology consultant in San Jose, Costa Rica, who works with online sports books to secure their networks.

Many online sports books that serve the U.S. are based in small countries such as Costa Rica and Belize, which lack the resources or expertise to investigate extortion attempts.

If charged, the three men will be tried in Russia. NHTCU also expect more arrests to follow, Bull says.

"We expect to find more people in the chain. Once you arrest somebody, you start to find out so much more," she says.

[dwaechte]

Wow, what bullshit.

Do they not have a way of tracking down these guys almost instantly? Or is the problem just that there aren't any authorities that care to crack down on them even if they can track them down?

Either way, definitely agree with the sentiment that you can't pay these guys. People that would do crap like this befuddle me.

[matskralc]

Do they not have a way of tracking down these guys almost instantly? Or is the problem just that there aren't any authorities that care to crack down on them even if they can track them down?

The problem in cases like these is usually that they decentralize the attack, as the article pasted above mentions, by using other peoples' compromised computers.