Million Dollar Homepage kid thwarts blackmailers

By Cory Doctorow at 1:44 pm Monday, Jun 5

The kid who started the Million Dollar Homepage got hit by a denial-of-service attack from some hackers who demanded $5,000 (later $50,000) in exchange for letting his site come back up. Instead the kid wapped free advertising to a an Internet security company in exchange for protection -- the site's back up and the Feebs are investigating the blackmailers.

The Dark Group called his bluff. "Hello u website is under us attack," they emailed, with a demand for $50,000. "if u pay we do not ddos u site even again! and u hava a nice life :)" Given his promise to advertisers, an outage could get him sued. That's when Tew's entrepreneurial instinct kicked in. He struck a deal with a Web security company, which agreed to protect his site in exchange for a plug in Tew's blog. The page went live again. The FBI started an investigation.

"Perhaps the attackers have inadvertently done me a favour!" Tew later blogged. Word of the hit had increased his site's traffic, proving one of the great axioms of business: There's no such thing as bad PR. The pixelpreneur is now doing speaking engagements, writing an ebook, and developing a TV show about his experience.

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