S. Lane Tucker, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney's Office District of Alaska
The Justice Department has announced the seizure of nine internet domains linked to DDoS-for-hire services, as part of a global crackdown on such operations. This action was carried out with the help of Poland’s Central Cybercrime Bureau, which also reported the arrest of four administrators involved in these services. Some of those arrested had operated websites previously targeted by the Central District of California.
These law enforcement efforts aim to curb websites that enable users to conduct distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Such attacks inundate computers and servers with excessive data, disrupting their internet connectivity.
The seized websites were reportedly responsible for numerous DDoS attacks worldwide. While some claimed to offer "stresser" services for network testing, an affidavit from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) indicated that these claims were misleading. The affidavit stated, “thousands of communications between booter site administrators and their customers…make clear that both parties are aware that the customer is not attempting to attack their own computers.”
United States Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California emphasized the impact of these services: “Booter services facilitate cyberattacks that harm victims and compromise everyone’s ability to access the internet.” U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman for the District of Alaska added, “This threat highlights the continued need to pursue cybercrime services like booter providers.”
Special Agent in Charge Kenneth DeChellis of DCIS remarked on the importance of collaboration in these efforts: “The enforcement actions launched today... represents continued pressure on DDoS-for-hire services and the cybercriminals and hacktivists who use them.”
In addition to website seizures, agencies including Homeland Security Investigations and DCIS have initiated an advertising campaign targeting potential users searching for DDoS services online.
This operation is part of Operation PowerOFF, an international initiative involving various law enforcement agencies such as EUROPOL, FBI field offices in Anchorage and Los Angeles, Germany's Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), and others. The effort aims at dismantling illegal DDoS infrastructures globally.
Assistance in this operation was provided by several organizations including Akamai, Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare, Digital Ocean, Flashpoint, Google, PayPal, The University of Cambridge, and Unit 221B.
Assistant United States Attorneys James E. Dochterman and Aaron Frumkin are overseeing this investigation.
For further information about booter and stresser services and their impacts, visit: https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/anchorage/fbi-intensify-efforts-to-combat-illegal-ddos-attacks.
