Wilts website under cyberspace attack (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Wilts website under cyberspace attack

THE website set up by Cricklade student Alex Tew this week became the victim of a cyberspace attack.

After selling the final piece of space at www.milliondollarhomepage.com 21-year-old Alex had been celebrating becoming a dollar millionaire but thanks to the publicity surrounding his success he has now faced extortion and blackmail threats.

His father, Malcom, confirmed the FBI, the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit and Wiltshire Constabulary's Computer Crime Unit was currently investigating the threats.

He said: "What has happened is a message came up on the site saying if he didn't pay $50,000 the site would go down. This was followed by several other emails."

Alex refused to respond to the emails and one day later his website went crashed.

Cyberhijacking has become increasingly popular and many big name sites have been targeted.

The crash on Alex's site is thought to have been caused by what is known as a denial-of-service attack, which blocks access to the website by flooding it with cyber traffic.

As the Standard went to press Alex was trying to get the site up and running fully.

Malcom said his son was determined not to let the cyber villains win. He said: "Alex is under attack and he is a bit annoyed, he just wants to get on and finish the site."