Cybercriminals have launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against German food delivery service Takeaway.com (Liefrando.de), demanding two bitcoins (about $11,000) to stop the flood of traffic. The attack has now stopped, according to a report from BleepingComputer. 

The COVID-19 virus has caused Germany to implement severe restrictions on the restaurant industry. As a result, Germans have grown more reliant on delivery services, which are still operating. One of these is Liefrando, which delivers food from more than 15,000 restaurants.

Founder and CEO Jitse Groen shared an update of the incident via Twitter, along with a note from the attackers indicating they planned to target other websites. The company's German division then announced its systems had entered maintenance mode to ensure data security in the attack. Food orders were accepted but couldn't be processed; Liefrando had to issue customer refunds. 

Security experts anticipate these types of acts, intended to exploit essential services in times of crisis, will continue as restrictions due to COVID-19 remain in place. "Deplorably, we will likely see a further avalanche of cyberattacks targeting most susceptible online businesses," says ImmuniWeb founder and CEO Ilia Kolochenko. As a result, many organizations may be forced to pay cybercriminals or invest in DDoS protection services to defend against advanced attacks.

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