Tag Archives: national-crime

UK police crack down on people paying for DDoS attacks

It’s all part of ‘Operation Tarpit’, a global crackdown co-ordinated by Europol. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are on the rise, affecting individuals, private businesses and government-funded institutions alike. As part of a large warning to cybercriminals, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has arrested 12 individuals for using a DDoS-for-hire service called Netspoof. “Operation Vulcanialia” targeted 60 citizens in total, and led to 30 cease and desist notices, and the seizure of equipment from 11 suspects. The NCA says it had two focuses: arresting repeat offenders and educating first-time users about the consequences of cybercrime. The work formed part of Operation Tarpit, a larger effort co-ordinated by Europol. Law enforcement agencies from Australia, Belgium, France, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US targeted users of DDoS tools together, resulting in 34 arrests and 101 suspects being interviewed and cautioned. The UK’s contribution was spearheaded by intelligence gathered by the West Midlands Regional Cyber Crime Unit, and executed by Regional Organised Crime Units under the watchful eye of the NCA. Some of the arrests were detailed in a press release — all but one was under the age of 30. Netspoof allowed anyone to initiate potentially devastating DDoS attacks from as little as £4. Packages soared to as much as £380, however, depending on the user’s requirements. It meant almost anyone, regardless of their technical background, could take down sites and services by flooding them with huge amounts of data. The trend is representative of the increase in cybercrime and how easy it is for people to wield such powers. DDoS attacks aren’t comparable to hacking, but they’re still a worrisome tactic for businesses. Knocking a service offline can affect a company’s finances and reputation, angering customers in the process. Twelve arrests is by no means insignificant, but it almost certainly represents a small number of DDoS users. Still, it’s a warning shot from the NCA — it’s aware of the problem, and officers are putting more resources into tracking those who both use and facilitate such attacks on the internet. Source: https://www.engadget.com/2016/12/13/uk-national-crime-agency-ddos-arrests/

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UK police crack down on people paying for DDoS attacks

Justice Charges Hackers From Lizard Squad, PoodleCorp

Two teenagers face charges from the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly being members of well-known hacking groups Lizard Squad and PoodleCorp. On Thursday (Oct. 6), Krebs on Security reported that the pair have been charged with credit card theft and operating services that enabled paying customers to launch cyberattacks with the intention of knocking websites offline. The two 19-year-olds, Zachary Buchta and Bradley Jan Willem van Rooy, are believed to have conspired to cause damage to protected computers. “The charges are the result of an international investigation into the computer hacking groups ‘Lizard Squad’ and ‘PoodleCorp,’ according to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago,” a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said. “Buchta and van Rooy allegedly conspired with others to launch destructive cyberattacks around the world and trafficked payment accounts that had been stolen from unsuspecting victims in Illinois and elsewhere,” it continued. Last year, the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested six teenagers for allegedly attempting to access a tool used by the Lizard Squad hacker group. Just days after those arrests were made, the NCA itself was taken down by a targeted cyberattack. The NCA’s website was down for more than an hour and was the target of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. In DDoS attacks, hackers bombard a targeted website with an overflow of data, eventually causing the entire network to crash. Lizard Squad took to Twitter shortly after the attack to take credit for the site shutdown. The group also gained press last year for supposedly launching a new business venture that allows anyone to join its security-breaching ways for a low cost of $6 a month. The subscription service known as LizardStresser allows subscribers to obtain a distributed denial-of-service attack tool. “This booter is famous for taking down some of the world’s largest gaming networks, such as Xbox Live, Playstation Network, Jagex, BattleNet, League of Legends and many more!” the LizardStresser homepage boasted at the time. “With this stresser, you wield the power to launch some of the world’s largest denial-of-service attacks.” Source: http://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2016/hackers-from-lizard-squad-poodlecorp-arrested/

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Justice Charges Hackers From Lizard Squad, PoodleCorp