- Europol Operation PowerOFF Disrupts DDoS Rental Services in 21 Countries
- Four arrests, 53 domains seized, 25 search warrants executed
- Police found 3 million criminal accounts; 75,000 warning emails sent to deter 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 law enforcement agencies, it launched Operation PowerOFF which, in addition to four arrests, also led to the takedown of 53 domains and the issuance of 25 search warrants.
“Prior to the action week, a series of operational sprints were held bringing together experts from national authorities around the world to carry out actions against high-value target users of DDoS rental platforms and raise awareness of the illegality of these activities,” Europol said.
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Warning to users
During these “sprints,” police allegedly disrupted illegal boot services, dismantling the technical infrastructure supporting DDoS services: servers, databases, and other technical components.
“By seizing these infrastructures, the authorities were able to hinder these criminal operations and prevent further harm to the victims,” Europol added.
On the confiscated hardware, police found information on three million criminal user accounts, leading to a series of coordinated actions around the world.
In the next stage of the campaign, Europol is warning DDoS rental customers to stop what they are doing or face the consequences. It apparently received 75,000 warning emails and placed ads on search engines targeting people searching for DDoS rental tools on Google.
More than 100 URLs advertising DDoS rental services were removed from search engine results and warning messages were sent on 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 offering these services typically first compromise poorly protected hardware, such as home routers, smart TVs, DVRs, and various smart home appliances, with malware.
This malware gives them the necessary access, which they then optimize by creating a simple dashboard. They then rent access to the panel, effectively facilitating cybercrime.
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