- Europol’s PowerOFF operation disrupts DDoS services for hire in 21 countries
- Four arrests, 53 estates seized, 25 search warrants executed
- Police discovered 3 million criminal accounts; 75,000 warning emails sent to dissuade customers
Four people have been arrested during Operation PowerOFF, a new Europol campaign aimed at disrupting distributed denial of service (DDoS) service providers.
Europol announced that together with 21 national law enforcement agencies it had launched Operation PowerOFF which, in addition to the four arrests, also led to the withdrawal of 53 domains and the issuance of 25 search warrants.
“Before the action week, a series of operational sprints took place, bringing together experts from national authorities around the world to take action against high-value target users of DDoS platforms for hire and raise awareness of the illegality of these activities,” Europol said.
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During these “sprints,” police allegedly disrupted illegal startup services, dismantling the technical infrastructure that supports DDoS services – servers, databases and other technical components.
“By seizing this infrastructure, the authorities were able to hinder these criminal operations and prevent further damage to the victims,” Europol added.
On the confiscated equipment, police found information on three million criminal user accounts, prompting a series of coordinated actions across the world.
In the next stage of the campaign, Europol is warning paid DDoS clients to stop what they are doing or face the consequences. It allegedly sent 75,000 warning emails and placed ads on search engines targeting people searching for DDoS tools to rent on Google.
More than 100 URLs advertising DDoS services for hire have been removed from search engine results and warning messages have been sent to blockchains that criminals use to make illegal payments.
To launch a distributed denial of service attack, a cybercriminal must have access to hundreds of thousands of devices connected to the Internet. Those who offer these services typically start by compromising poorly protected hardware, such as home routers, smart TVs, DVRs, and different smart home appliances, with malware.
This malware gives them the necessary access, which they then streamline by creating a simple dashboard. Then they rent access to the dashboard, thereby facilitating cybercrime.
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