CABLE & Wireless (C&W), the leader in integrated business communications and computing infrastructure solutions, has warned organisations across the North-west of the need to bolster their online security -- or risk being held to ransom by highly organised cyber-criminals.

Some of Britain's leading bookmakers have already been targeted with a new form of web-crime, with gangs from Russia and China threatening to sabotage

their websites before big race meetings such as the Derby and Grand National, unless they part with significant sums of "ransom" money.

C&Wireless has worked with many of these bookmakers to secure their websites, and so the criminals are now turning their attention to other types of organisation.

"Those such as financial services and Internet search engine companies are thought to be at especially high risk.

"These gangs are technologically astute and have previously been able to sabotage company websites almost at will," said Mike Fay, regional director, North, Cable & Wireless.

"We can't state absolutely what sectors will be targeted next, but businesses that generate significant revenue through their online presence look particularly susceptible.

"Companies in Bolton and the North-west should look carefully at their security provision and take adequate steps to prevent themselves becoming the next target."

This new form of computer crime is called DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) that works by spreading a virus via the PC-based address books of thousands of unsuspecting parties. Infected computers continue to work normally until a predefined date, at which time all parties simultaneously bombard the server of the target website with so many requests for information that it becomes paralysed under the load and can no longer function.

Once the website has been brought down, the criminal gang makes contact with the company promising to stop the attack if they pay the ransom money.

In the past, affected organisations have had two rather stark choices: pay up, or significantly increase bandwidth, both of which can prove very expensive and which don't necessarily safeguard against similar attacks in the future.