US Is Seizing 48 Websites in Sting of Cyberattack-for-Hire Services

The US seized dozens of internet domains and charged six people in a sting intended to bring down a network of cyberattack-for-hire services, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

In all, the US obtained a court order to seize 48 websites, and six people were criminally charged in relation to the takedowns, according to federal prosecutors. The FBI was in the process of seizing the websites, officials said Wednesday.

The websites were used to launch, or attempt to launch, millions of so-called DDoS attacks around the world, the DOJ said in a statement. Short for distributed-denial-of- service, DDoS attacks direct huge amounts of junk internet traffic at a website or computer network to knock it offline.

“This week’s sweeping law enforcement activity is a major step in our ongoing efforts to eradicate criminal conduct that threatens the internet’s infrastructure and our ability to function in a digital world,” said Martin Estrada, the US Attorney for the Central District of California.

DDoS-for-hire services often refer to themselves as “stresser” or “booter” tools that purport to offer a way for individuals to test the resilience of websites and services they operate, according to cybersecurity experts. In reality, the services are often used for harassment, extortion and criminal mischief, they say.

The sites seized by the FBI include royalstresser, securityteam and dragonstresser, among others.

One popular use of the services is to knock competitors in a video game offline. In other cases, DDoS services have been used to extort news websites to remove unflattering articles, or to demand money from businesses to make the attacks stop.

The FBI and DOJ performed a similar operation against DDoS sites in December 2018 when they seized 15 DDoS websites and charged three individuals. The takedowns came just before the Christmas holiday, a popular time for DDoS operators to launch attacks on gaming services.