The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the seizure of 48 domains associated with the DDoS-for-Hire Service platforms (aka Booter services) used by threat actors.
The authorities charged six suspects, Jeremiah Sam Evans Miller (23), Angel Manuel Colon Jr. (37), Shamar Shattock (19), Cory Anthony Palmer (22), John M. Dobbs (32), and Joshua Laing (32), for running the platforms.
The defendants were charged with conspiracy to violate and violating the computer fraud and abuse act related to the alleged operation of a booter service.
DoJ announced the court-authorized seizure of 48 internet domains associated with some of the world’s leading DDoS-for-hire services, as well as criminal charges against six defendants who allegedly oversaw computer attack platforms commonly called “booter” services
The FBI is now in the process of seizing the websites that allowed paying users to launch powerful distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks that flood targeted computers with information and prevent them from being able to access the internet.
The websites seized by the feds were used to launch millions of actual or attempted DDoS attacks targeting victims worldwide.
The customers paid the platforms to launch powerful distributed denial-of-service attacks against their target websites.
These websites are believed to have targeted several victims in the U.S. and elsewhere, such as educational institutions, government agencies, and gaming platforms.
An analysis of communications between the booter site administrators and their customers undertaken by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shows that the services are obtained through a cryptocurrency payment.
DoJ pointed out that these law enforcement operations are part of an ongoing coordinated effort codenamed Operation PowerOFF in collaboration with the U.K., the Netherlands, and Europol aimed at dismantling criminal DDoS-for-hire infrastructures worldwide.
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