Cyber-extortion attacks are on the rise for one reason: The lure of easy money. An increasing number of attack groups have been waging DDoS extortion campaigns globally. Attackers disrupt a site for a short period with a distributed denial-of-service attack, send a ransom note threatening further disruption if the ransom doesn’t get paid, sometimes make good on that threat. Cybersecurity expert Roland Dobbins says attackers typically employ DDoS extortions for one of three reasons: “Profit: Criminals are looking for easy bitcoins””]
Source: https://www.govinfosecurity.com/cyber-extortion-fighting-ddos-attacks-a-8828