Europol closed the websiteσελίδα WebStresser, an online service where users could register and launch DDoS attacks after payment of a monthly amount, with prices starting from 15 euros.
The site was considered as the largest DDoS service that one could rent and attack anyone who wanted. 136.000 registered 2017 users over 4. Europol stated that WebStresser was responsible for over XNUMX million DDoS attacks in recent years.
Visitors to WebStresser.org will now see a notice stating that the site has been taken down as well as a huge "Operation Power Off" sign, which is the name of the company that shut down the site.
Operation Power Off is a coordinated effort by the police of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Croatia, Spain, Italy, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and the United States of America , and in collaboration with Europol.
In addition to shutting down the site, authorities said they also arrested its administrators, who reside in the UK, Croatia, Canada and Serbia. They also took over WebStresser's server infrastructure located in the Netherlands on USA and in Germany.
Europol added that "further measures were taken" against the site's top users, who have carried out the most attacks in recent years. The police did not reveal what those measures were, but said only that the users were located in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Croatia, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong.
Ο WebStresser ξεκίνησε την "λειτουργία" του το 2015. Ήταν αρχικά μια μικρή υπηρεσία, αλλά εξελίχθηκε με τα χρόνια. Η υπηρεσία προσέφερε σταδιακά και με την πάροδο των ετών, υποστήριξη για μια πληθώρα τύπων DDoS επιθέσεων, είχε αντίστοιχη εφαρμογή για cell phones (from which users could launch attacks), accepted payments via PayPal and Bitcoin, and advertised their services on hacking forums and social media.
The service has become extremely popular in recent years, and is the first result that Google returns when searching for related terms such as "DDoS booter" or "DDoS stresser".
WebStresser also had a very active one Facebook page, where it regularly asked users to post positive reviews of the site, and "rewarded" users with free access to the service for a month. There have been 2.450 YouTube videos with the WebStresser report so far.
The Facebook page also contained messages from WebStresser administrators announcing outages, maintenance, or even discussing what services users wanted. In many messages, managers made the mistake of revealing the names of their hosting providers. For example, a Facebook post revealed that WebStresser is hosting servers at the Deutscher Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX), a well-known German data center located in Frankfurt. Europol, however, said servers were seized in Germany.
Despite the shutdown of the largest and most advertised DDoS instigator, there are many other similar services available at Internet, many of which are apparent in a simple Google search. Logically, just as WebStresser had taken vDoS users when it was shut down, so now the market for renting DDoS attacks will go to another provider that will offer similar services. As long as there is money, this cycle of illegal service will hardly be stopped.
