US agencies seize 48 DDoS-for-hire domains, charge six people for running booter services

US law enforcement agencies have seized as many as 48 domains associated with the world’s leading DDoS-for-hire services and charged six people who oversaw the cyber attack platforms commonly known as “booter” services.

According to a press release from the US Department of Justice, the FBI is in the process of seizing the websites that allowed paid users to launch powerful distributed denial-of-service or DDoS attacks on their victims.

“Booter services such as those named in this action allegedly attacked a wide array of victims in the United States and abroad, including educational institutions, government agencies, gaming platforms, and millions of individuals.

“In addition to affecting targeted victims, these attacks can significantly degrade internet services and can completely disrupt internet connections,” the press release read.

United States Attorney Martin Estrada said, “These booter services allow anyone to launch cyberattacks that harm individual victims and compromise everyone’s ability to access the internet. 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.”

Apart from seizing these 48 domains, the FBI, the UK’s National Crime Agency, and the Netherlands Police have launched an advertising campaign using targeted placement ads in search engines that are triggered by keywords associated with DDoS activities.

“The purpose of the ads is to deter potential cyber criminals searching for DDoS services in the United States and around the globe, as well as to educate the public on the illegality of DDoS activities,” the DOJ added.

The DOJ also charged four defendants in Los Angeles and two in Alaska in connection with running booter services named RoyalStresser.com (formerly known as Supremesecurityteam.com), SecurityTeam.io, Astrostress.com, Booter.sx, Ipstressor.com (IPS) and TrueSecurityServices.io.

Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, Donald Alway, said, “Criminals are increasingly targeting essential services and our critical infrastructure with DDoS attacks that can cost victims valuable time, money and reputational harm.

“Whether a criminal launches an attack independently or pays a skilled contractor to carry one out, the FBI will work with victims and use the considerable tools at our disposal to identify the person or group responsible. Victims of cybercrime are urged to contact their local FBI field office or file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov,” Alway added.

In June this year, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice also seized three internet domains that were used by threat actors to trade stolen personal information and to perform attacks on victim networks.

The three internet domains, namely weleakinfo.to, ipstress.in, and ovh-booter.com, were seized by authorities following an international investigation into how malicious cyber criminals were using them to run their operations.