Russian Mafia Brings Down Telstra Network

According to a report on Tuesday's Sydney Morning Herald, attacks by the Russian Mafia on online betting networks brought Telstra's Alice Springs network to its knees.

The problem it seems, is that the Russian Mafia has an affinity to try and crack into the online betting systems of two of Australia's bigger bookmakers, Multibet.com and Centrebet both of whom are based in Alice Springs. It appears the Mafia had attemtpted to blackmail the two organisations into coughing up some cash - up to US$20,000 supposedly - and when the bookmakers refused, the attack was perpetrated and the "systems brought to their knees". The actual nature of the attack is not identified, but one assumes it would be a Denial of Service.