A Few Cybercriminals Account for All Email Extortion Attacks, New Research Reveals

New research conducted by Barracuda Networks, in collaboration with Columbia University, has revealed that a surprisingly small group of cybercriminals is responsible for the majority of email extortion attempts worldwide. The study examined over 300,000 flagged emails, identified as extortion attacks by the company’s AI detectors, over a one-year period.

To estimate the findings, the researchers traced the bitcoin wallet addresses provided in the emails, as cybercriminals often prefer this method of payment due to the anonymity and ease of transactions in the cryptocurrency realm.

However, the number of bitcoin addresses doesn’t necessarily indicate the exact number of attackers. According to Columbia Master’s student Zixi (Claire) Wang, who authored the report, the actual number of attackers is likely even fewer than 100, as attackers often use multiple bitcoin addresses.

The monetary demands in these email attacks were relatively low, with approximately a quarter of the emails requesting less than $1,000 and over 90% asking for less than $2,000. Wang speculates that cybercriminals opt for smaller amounts to avoid raising suspicion with victims’ banks or tax authorities, and victims are more likely to comply with lower demands without investigating the legitimacy of the threat.

The researchers also observed that Bitcoin was the sole cryptocurrency used by t

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