Australia's banks are facing cryptocurrency ransom demands from an unknown group of hackers who threaten to launch sustained denial of service attacks unless they are paid off.
The threats in question are delivered via email, and threaten the recipient with a sustained DoS attack unless a sum of the Monero cryptocurrency is paid.
The actors behind the threats claim to be the ‘Silence Hacking Crew', a Russian-speaking advanced persistent threat group who have previous form in post-Soviet states and neighbouring countries.
Australia's Cyber Security Centre says it cannot verify the firepower at the disposal of the cyber saboteurs. The Government security agency adds that it "is aware of a number of DoS threats made in the past against Australian organisations that did not eventuate".
It nonetheless "strongly recommend" that targeted companies build up their defences ahead of any potential DoS attack.