TwitterFacebookPinterest

Brand.com’s Mike Zammuto Discusses Meetup.com Extortion

Wed, Mar 5th, 2014 | Posted In: Business | Written by: Harvey Greer

As President of Brand.com, Mike Zammuto witnessed the rise of an unsettling digital trend: anonymous users threatening to ruin the online reputations of business and executives by demanding high payment in cyber extortion schemes. Last December, he became the target of cyber extortion himself. Below, in light of the recent blackmail attempt against Meetup.com CEO Scott Heiferman, Zammuto comments on his own experiences and the evolving nature of cyber extortion.

Mike Zammuto offers insight on Brand.com's recent cyber attack

The popular social media site Meetup.com just experienced this so-called dark side of the net when a cyber extortion plot put the site offline for the past several days.

According to reports, Meetup CEO Scott Heiferman received an email last Thursday with some unsettling demands. The anonymous email read “A competitor asked me to perform a DDoS attack on your website.” The extortionist asked for $300 to stop the attack, which Heiferman refused.

That Thursday, the DDoS attacks began, knocking the Meetup.com site down for most of the weekend and into Monday.

DDoS (Distributed denial of service) attacks are used to overwhelm a website with server requests. As a result, the site remains unable to complete any server requests and users lose access to it.

While it was a difficult choice for the company to not give into the demands and deal with the DDoS attacks, CEO Scott Heiferman said it’s a matter of policy and precedent. As a matter of policy, the company stated that it will not negotiate with criminals or entertain any extortion attempts against the site.

If the company were to relent and pay off the cyber-terrorist, it would also set a dangerous precedent. If one individual was paid off to prevent an attack, more would assuredly make similar demands.

The good news for Meetup is that as of Tuesday evening, the site was back up online with this news post about the outages:

“Meetup is generally stable. Everyone should have access at this time. We’re restoring all functionality and working through the email queue. It’ll take time – we appreciate your patience.”

Cyber attacks are no rare occurrence; these types of extortion attempts are actually becoming increasingly common across the Internet. Online brand management site Brand.com was itself a recent victim of cyber extortion.

According to Brand.com President Mike Zammuto, the attack occurred last December when unidentified extortionists demanded $500,000 worth of the crytpocurrency Bitcoin. If the company refused to pay the fees, the extortionists said that libelous content would be published to defame Zammuto and damage the public perception of the Brand.com company name.

The company refused to consent to the cyber extortion threats, and as expected, several posts against Zammuto were published on sites like RipoffReport.com. The posts leveled a myriad of false accusations against the Brand.com President, including references to an alleged Ponzi scheme that required employees to intentionally post negative information about prospective clients to coerce them into signing up for brand management services.  Zammuto addressed the controversy directly in an article on Interpacket.com, where he explains the blackmail attempt in detail.

Despite these negative posts initially ranking on search engines under his name, Mike Zammuto worked with his team to address the defamatory content, essentially making the entire Brand.com company its own client. Company attorneys also worked with Google to immediately remove three of the libelous posts from search engine rankings.

For both Brand.com as well as Meetup.com, swift and decisive action in the midst of a crisis like cyber extortion is precisely what helped stop the situation from worsening.

As Zammuto said in an interview with Personal Branding Blog, “Professionals should understand that online attacks can come at any time, and as such, they also need to be prepared to take action against all-of-a-sudden attacks – that means firing out content on the spot and doing whatever it takes to push back negative listings. You need to be aggressive.”

Mike Zammuto and the rest of his Brand.com team work with companies in order to overcome defamatory or misrepresentative online content with the company’s monitoring and publishing services.

56 comments
ChrisBrand89
ChrisBrand89

It's great to see someone stand up to these kinds of attacks.

BillGerretz
BillGerretz

GIVING IN TO THESE KNUCKLEHEADS WAS NEVER AN OPTION I'M SURE.

SURELY THE FLOODGATES WOULD HAVE OPENED IF THEY DID GIVE IN & WE WOULD 

HAVE BEEN READING MORE HORROR STORIES OF THIS NATURE.

BOTH THESE GENTLEMEN DESERVE HIGH PRAISE FOR THEIR COURAGE.

TNavin
TNavin

It's great to see an example of someone winning against a cyber attack

jglauser
jglauser

The most impressive part of this could be that there was a near instantaneous plan in place to combat the attacks.  

DJBrown249
DJBrown249

Great piece about how this happens to companies on the rise.  It's part of the deal and companies should have an action plan to deal with threats when they arise.  


ert1217
ert1217

This is an inspiring story to anyone who has had to endure this type of attack! 

Jack Serpa
Jack Serpa

The dreadful take-away here is this can hit any company or chief executive at any time...

Cliff S
Cliff S

This a great example of a victory against cyber extortion.

JRHalloran
JRHalloran

This article definitely shows the dangers of working in the internet industry! Imagine one day you come in to work only to find your website hacked or shut down due to a DDoS attack. That's similar to someone looting your brick-and-mortar storefront. 

Blackmailing businesses for money is also no small threat. It should be met with the right forces, and I'm glad Brand.com didn't back down from this fight. 


chanellybell
chanellybell

These extortion trolls always seem to think they can outsmart these inventive startup businesses but it never works out.

PJSweens1
PJSweens1

Cyber extortion is no laughing matter even though it is a cowardly  act

KScott2233
KScott2233

I can't wrap my head around how often people try to utilize something as awesome as the internet for extortion and to say defamatory things. 

courtnarucker
courtnarucker

Hats off to Meetup.com for not giving in to this type of blackmail and using their voice instead to speak out about this incident 

AdamFelch
AdamFelch

LOL! I agree with @Kyle McGrath. That's like robbing the guy on the corner selling pencils. Before he even has sold any pencils! STUPID!

adirao
adirao

Unfortunately, software like LOIC is readily available for download allowing anyone to carry out DDoS attacks. Furthermore, it is relatively easy to rile up a juvenile internet community to support these attacks as they rely on volume.

Kyle McGrath
Kyle McGrath

$300? Was the dude just trying to make rent or retire early? I would've agreed to it and sent him an IOU. 


All seriousness, these sites need to be regulated. The fact that this is even an option for scumbags like the ones mentioned in this article is ridiculous. 

TarekOsman
TarekOsman

These things need to occur in order to raise awareness and create regulations around the internet.  This is the equivalent to someone burning down a storefront because they won't pay their "protection fees."

Joseph Burton
Joseph Burton

kudos for standing up to them!!!  its not terrorist you cant give into them demands


BiancaDoran
BiancaDoran

Blackmail is huge now in the cyber world, and we have to learn how to not only prevent it but how to handle these situations

DustenCarlson
DustenCarlson

The more that comes out about these kinds of attacks, the better. Speak up, people.

DJPC52988
DJPC52988

I'm glad something positive will come from this, like Mike suggested here. Extortion attacks are a big animal, but if you can hamper them AND turn it into a positive, you're really onto something. 

Ronnie_Gamble
Ronnie_Gamble

Extortion can happen anywhere anytime someone feels that they deserve what someone else has fought and worked for. It's insane.

stonerkt
stonerkt

Being prepared for these kind of attacks is key

JustinDeLisi
JustinDeLisi

Great call John, you need to stand up for yourself to stop these attacks.

Jules Pileggi
Jules Pileggi

I can't wait until these attackers get caught! 

John Gottschall
John Gottschall

I am thankful there are still people willing to stand up for themselves.

Dillon Young
Dillon Young

300 bones to turn on your employer?  What were they paying the hacker?  seems weird.

Ignacio Delgado
Ignacio Delgado

Always be prepared.What are you doing today to protect your Brand Online?

StephPlease
StephPlease

What happened to making an honest living?

moneyreign
moneyreign

I just saw this in the news today and found it extremely interesting how well it coincided with our story. Unfortunately I feel this is just the beginning of brands and companies getting cyber threats and extortions.

JordanRScott44
JordanRScott44

I like how the guy was so devious, he was gonna turn on the competitor for $300, what a coward.

kayceeflore
kayceeflore

People will do anything to get a buck! Just terrible!

jasonraser5
jasonraser5

This is just sad how people have to scam their way into financial stability.

Sophie Tran
Sophie Tran

I don't know much about DDoS but I've heard of something called Zombie attacks which can be used to launch DDoS as well as email spam. Sounds scary. 

rdavis10483
rdavis10483

For some people, it's just easier to try to make money through illicit means than just being honest like the rest of us. Sad commentary on society.

moneyreign
moneyreign

@JordanRScott44  I bet they would have come back full throttle if the company bit and paid the initial $300!

MikeZammuto
MikeZammuto

@moneyreign @JordanRScott44 This is the problem with blackmail. It prays on wishful thinking. We are going to turn this into something positive by spurring debate about online discourse and CDA immunity.

Sophie Tran
Sophie Tran

@MikeZammuto @moneyreign @JordanRScott44  There's that word again, CDA immunity. I looked it up earlier when I saw a comment referencing the CDA immunity --- Communications Decency Act. I don't know much about this topic, if that's what CDA is -- but it is most definitely a topic worth exploring as the digital age moves even further into our personal lives.

Sections

Follow Us

About Us

Contact Us

News Headquarters, Inc.
Curtis Center, 601 Walnut Street, Suite 701E
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone Number: 215.622.2916