UK police set up fake DDoS sites!

[thewayne]

Term: DDoS. Stands for Distributed Denial of Service, used to be the first D wasn't there. You get a bot net of compromised computers and servers (they've unknowingly downloaded malware that give the baddies remote control of the computer without the owner knowing it) to target one IP address or web site and bombard it with connection requests, which makes it unable to handle legitimate requests and proverbially crushes the target, making it unusable. Frequently used as a blackmail tool.

The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) has been setting up fake DDoS sites. These are also known as Booter or Stresser sites. Booter meaning it boots everyone off the site when the attack hits, Stresser because they try to claim they're providing a service for people to see how robust their hardware is under heavy load. When people register for the site, they receive a proverbial knock on the door of their email in the form of an email that says (my words) "Hello, we're the police. What you signed up to do is a crime, and we're collecting your information. If you're not in the UK, we're sending your information to the nation in which you live. Have a nice day."

Now, this isn't going to stop a serious jerk as they're going to be using disposable email addresses, a VPN and multiple proxy services to hide their identity and location. But it will stop casual tricksters trying to impress their friends and the like. And it will make it a bit more difficult for serious jerks to find new DDoS services.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/03/uk-sets-up-fake-booter-sites-to-muddy-ddos-market/

Comments

[disneydream06]

Good luck to them. :o
Hugs, Jon

[silveradept]

Discouraging the casuals certainly sounds like a good idea, even if it might not dissuade those who are very serious about what they are doing, and those who have a clue or two about what kind of protection and obfuscation they need to engage with to succeed.