Police take dozens of DDoS websites offline

Dutch police, together with international partners, have taken down nearly fifty ‘DDoS-for-hire’ websites. Hackers and cybercriminals can order DDoS attacks here at competitive prices. Administrators and users of these websites can expect more activities in the future.

writes that Police In a press release.

Here’s what you need to know about a DDoS attack

First: What is a DDoS attack? In a way Denial of Service Or DDoS attack Hackers and cybercriminals try to disable a computer network or server through connection requests and data requests. Sooner or later the server gets overloaded and as a result it becomes unresponsive or very slow. Not even the proper audience to search for information.

You can view a DDoS attack as a digital traffic jam. Everything seems fine until the cars suddenly slow down or stop. At a certain point normal traffic flow is no longer possible due to heavy traffic on the digital highway. Then a file is generated. At that point, visitors will no longer be able to view the website.

In practice, hackers often use DDoS attacks as a means of pressure and extortion. Every moment a company can’t do business costs a lot of money. In addition to financial damage, companies often worry about indirect damage, reputational and image damage as a result of a DDoS attack. So companies and organizations do everything they can to prevent a DDoS attack as quickly as possible.

Anyone who conducts a DDoS attack in the Netherlands can be jailed for up to five years.

Seven suspects have been arrested so far

Administrators of ‘DDoS-for-hire’ websites pose as legitimate entrepreneurs. They say they don’t sell DDoS attacks, but invite them pressures. It is a service that tests the reliability of web services and underlying servers. A stressor often performs a DDoS attack, with the big difference being that the providers claim that the stressor is legitimate.

In recent days, Dutch police have taken down 48 of these ‘DDoS-for-hire’ or booter sites. These are websites that are popular with search engines like Google, including webstresser.org. So far six executives have been arrested in the US and one in the UK. Police have not ruled out that more suspects will be arrested in the near future.

Google ads campaign to warn people about DDoS attacks

The arrests were part of an international operation called Power Off. It is an international partnership between intelligence and intelligence services from the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the United States and the United Kingdom. Commercial parties such as Amazon, Cloudflare, Digital Ocean and PayPal also contributed to the process.

“Through international cooperation, Operation Power targets infrastructure, operators and (potential) users. Participating police agencies work together to access and disable DDoS services. As a result, the police obtain large amounts of user data.

During this operation, the Dutch police carried out a large-scale online campaign. Using Google ads, the police tried to spread as much information as possible about the illegality of DDoS attacks. The purpose of the ads is to deter cybercriminals seeking DDoS services in the United States and around the world, and to educate the public about the illegality of DDoS activities. A statement About global action.