The FBI's Alert Regarding "Sextortion": Why Cyber Blackmail, Though Illegal, Is Difficult to Stop and What Computer Users Can Do

12-1-2010 National:

Extortion and blackmail have been around for centuries--but now, they've gone online. Once, a would-be blackmailer or extortionist would have to physically trail and spy on his or her victim, risking being spotted. Now, however, all that is necessary is a computer, and an online identity can hide the perpetrator's true identity.

Today, a blackmail or extortion plan may begin with a hacker's getting into an Internet user's pc and searching for embarrassing nude photos or messages. If a hacker takes control of a computer, he may be able to control the webcam and microphone. Thus, he can peer into the computer user's bedroom, hear his target's conversations, and know every keystroke she makes online. In addition to being a remote voyeur, the hacker may also become an extortionist -- threatening to reveal embarrassing secrets to a romantic partner or, in the case of a teenager, a parent, unless money is provided or additional intimate photos or videos are shared.

Or, such a scheme may begin with a seemingly innocuous online "friend" request, or a comment by a chat room buddy. Such a request or comment may lead to flirtation, which then results in the victim's transmitting compromising photos to the online "friend." Once those photos have been turned over, the "friend" has leverage to get more compromising photos, and/or to demand money to keep the photos secret.

Such schemes are common enough that they now have a name: Getting sensitive personal and sexual information from an Internet user and using it against that person is referred to as "sextortion."

In this column, I will describe the new phenomenon of sextortion; explain why such conduct is illegal under existing law; and discuss what steps Internet users -- including teens and their parents -- can take to avoid being the victim of a sextortion scheme.

The FBI's Recent Alert, Following on the Heels of a Major Sextortion Scheme

Just this past month, the FBI published an alert for Internet users, asking them to beware of the new threat posed by "sextortion" -- a term first used in a federal affidavit. The alert followed on the heels of a major arrest by the Los Angeles FBI this past summer. The arrestee was a 31-year-old California man, whose name has not been revealed. The man allegedly had engaged in the sextortion of more than 200 victims, many of who were teenage girls; and had invaded more than 100 computers.

The arrestee is alleged to have hacked into victims' computers; installed malicious code; downloaded sexually-compromising photos; and used those photos to extort more photos and videos from his victims.

The FBI said that the arrestee used a popular social-networking site and posed as a friend, relative, or other trusted contact in order to spread a computer virus that enabled him to access the victims' computers. In several instances, he posed online as a person's friend or sister, and sent the victim messages with attachments asking if she wanted to watch a scary video. If victims opened the attachment, the virus self-installed surreptitiously. Unbeknownst to the victim, the hacker then had control over her computer -- including all files, folders, images and devices.

The FBI alleges that, by threatening to share private and risqué information with their parents and email contacts, the man pressured the young women into providing him with additional pictures and videos. According to an FBI news report, in one example, the hacker attached a pornographic picture of his victim to an e-mail, and told her that unless she sent him a sexually-explicit video of herself, he would notify her parents about all the photos he had found on her computer.

The arrestee is alleged to have used a variety of screen names and e-mail addresses, including some suggestive ones such as Playgrl37 and Hotchit13w, in carrying out his scheme. ..For the remainder of this paper.. by ANITA RAMASASTRY