The U.S. Justice Department announced earlier today that the FBI
has seized domains of 15 “DDoS-for-hire” websites and charged three
individuals running some of these services.
DDoS-for-hire,
or “Booter” or “Stresser,” services rent out access to a network of
infected devices, which then can be used by anyone, even the least
tech-savvy individual, to launch distributed denial-of-service
(DDoS) attacks against any website and disrupt its access.
[1]
In recent years, multiple hacking groups ruined Christmas
Day for millions of gamers by taking down PlayStation, Xbox
networks and other gaming servers using massive DDoS attacks.
“Booter services such as those named in this action allegedly cause
attacks on a wide array of victims in the United States and abroad,
including financial institutions, universities, internet service
providers, government systems, and various gaming platforms,” the
DoJ said.
“The action against the DDoS services comes the week before the
Christmas holiday, a period historically plagued by prolific DDoS
attacks in the gaming world.”
DDoS-for-hire service known as Webstresser that helped
cyber criminals launch over 4 million attacks, and arrested its
administrators.
The 15 booter domains that were selling access to DDoS attacks
under the guise of network stress-testing services and seized[5] by the FBI on Thursday
include:
- critical-boot.com
- ragebooter.com
- anonsecurityteam.com
- downthem.org
- quantumstress.net
- booter.ninja
- bullstresser.net
- defcon.pro
- str3ssed.me
- defianceprotocol.com
- layer7-stresser.xyz
- netstress.org
- request.rip
- torsecurityteam.org
- Vbooter.org
These DDoS-for-Hire
services were allegedly used to target a wide array of victims
in the United States and abroad, including financial institutions,
universities, internet service providers, government systems, and
various gaming platforms.
On December 12, the U.S. Attorney’s Office also charged
David Bukoski, 23, of Pennsylvania, for operating Quantum
Stresser—one of the longest-running DDoS services in operation
with over 80,000 customer subscriptions as of November 29 since its
launch in 2012.
In 2018 alone, Quantum Stresser was used to launch more than
50,000 “actual or attempted” DDoS attacks targeting victims
worldwide, including in Alaska and California.
“DDoS for hire services such as these pose a significant national
threat,” said U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder. “Coordinated
investigations and prosecutions such as these demonstrate the
importance of cross-District collaboration and coordination with
public sector partners.”
criminal complaints against two alleged cybercriminals—Matthew
Gatrel, 30, and Juan Martinez, 25—who were allegedly affiliated
with the DDoS-for-hire services known as ‘Downthem’ and ‘Ampnode.’
Between October 2014 and November 2018, Downthem had more than
2000 customer subscriptions and had been used to “conduct, or
attempt to conduct, over 200,000 DDoS attacks,” according to the
FBI.
The recent crackdown servers as a warning not only to other
would-be DDoS peddlers but also users who rent out these services,
as the FBI cautions that it will seek prosecution of anyone paying
for such services.
References
- ^
DDoS-for-hire
(thehackernews.com) - ^
ruined Christmas Day
(thehackernews.com) - ^
PlayStation, Xbox networks
(thehackernews.com) - ^
world’s biggest DDoS-for-hire
service (thehackernews.com) - ^
seized
(www.justice.gov) - ^
DDoS-for-Hire services
(thehackernews.com) - ^
charged
(www.justice.gov)
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