Threat Management, Malware, Ransomware, Threat Management

Florida man arrested for allegedly holding website hostage

A Florida man was arrested after allegedly shutting down a San Diego software company's website and holding it for ransom.

Authorities said 29-year-old Gerard "Jerry" M. McTear III of Fort Myers Florida was charged with threatening to damage and intentionally damaging computers after authorities say the company lost more than $5,000 in business as a result of the site being offline, according to a DOJ press release.

The attack was carried out on June 6, 2016.

The release made no mention of the term “ransomware” but did say these types of attacks have become more prevalent and that it encourages victimized to ignore ransom demands in order to avoid appearing vulnerable and to avoid being targeted again for a higher ransoms. 

McTear faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison along with a $250,000 fine if convicted.  

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