Hackers threat to online bookmakers

Hackers are blackmailing internet bookmakers by threatening to paralyse their websites before major sporting events.

Leading online firms are understood to have received email threats demanding large sums - or face an electronic attack that could cost the betting industry hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost business.

The internet protection rackets are thought to be planning a strike on bookmakers before Britain's premier sporting events, including the Grand National and Cheltenham Gold Cup. Experts claim the future of online betting, worth up to £7 billion in western Europe, is under threat and representatives of the fast-growing industry are holding crisis talks to discuss a response to the hackers. Online bookmakers have said they are attempting to strengthen their defences. Other areas of business on the web are also under threat, with insurance companies among those targeted.

The culprits are believed to be criminal gangs in eastern Europe, where there is an abundanceof skilled programmers who exploit relaxed computer misuse laws.

They use a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack - which overloads targeted websites with requests for information, slowing them down to the point of shutdown.

Internet bookmakers in the US were given "warning shots" before American Football's Superbowl this month - temporarily shutting down their websites - followed by emails demanding up to £30,000.

Paddy Power, the Irish bookmaker, said its site was also offline for hours this month when it suffered a DDoS attack along with other firms.

It said no blackmail money had been paid and the police had been informed.

Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit is now investigating the extortion racket.

Detective Superintendent Mick Deats said: "It's not clear how much research they are doing, but there was an awareness it was the Superbowl and a good time to attack, and there's a string of large betting events this year, including Cheltenham and the Euro 2004 football."