Company Pay Group Email Information Eslpod Extortion Cyberextortion

"Cyberextortion" is a type of extortion in which the "criminal" (the person who is breaking the law) uses the Internet to force other people to pay money. For example, a group might send an email to a company, saying that it has "confidential" (information that should not be shared) information about the company or its customers. The email includes a threat, stating that the information will be shared or sold unless the company pays a large amount of money. The company, wanting to avoid a "scandal" (a very embarrassing or shameful situation) and "bad publicity" (negative stories in the media) might decide it's better to pay up than to risk finding out whether the group is telling the truth.

Another type of cyberextortion occurs when a group sends an email stating that it has identified a weakness in the company's "network" (how computers communicate with each other). The email threatens that the group will "exploit" (take advantage of something in a negative way) that weakness to steal confidential information or "launch" (start) an attack that will harm the company's "IT" (information technology; computer) systems. Again, the company might decide that it's better to pay money than to find out whether the threat is "legitimate" (real).

In 2008, a man named Anthony Digati demanded money from the New York Life Insurance Company. When the company "denied his claim" (did not pay what the policyholder was asking for), he said that he would send out six million "spam emails" (unwanted emails) that would appear to be from the company. In this case, the company did not "accede" (agree) to Digati's demands, and instead contacted the "FBI" (Federal Bureau of Investigation), which "apprehended" (caught) Digati before he could "follow through on his threats" (do what he had threatened to do)