International coalition sent over 75000 warnings in PowerOFF DDoS crackdown

Seized servers exposed registered users of paid DDoS services, prompting a mass warning campaign. The operation halted dozens of domains and led to multiple arrests.

As highlighted by Techcrunch

A coalition of international law enforcement agencies sent more than 75,000 emails to individuals suspected of using paid services for DDoS attacks that can take down websites. This is part of a coordinated campaign against cybercrime.

On Thursday, Europol announced a joint operation against several DDoS-for-hire services that allow criminals to launch attacks without needing to possess their own hacking skills or infrastructure.

Operation, known as PowerOFF, involved sending warning letters to more than 75,000 people suspected of using such services.

According to Europol, the relevant data were obtained after searches and seizure of servers connected with these services, giving police the ability to identify their registered users.

As part of the operation, four individuals were arrested, 53 domains were taken down, and 24 searches were conducted.

DDoS attacks remain prevalent again due to the ability to cause damage by relatively simple execution through rented services.

Last year Cloudflare recorded the largest DDoS attack in history – peak traffic reached 29.7 terabits per second. It is also known that in recent years the FBI conducted several operations against hire-for-DDoS services.

This global initiative demonstrates close cooperation between law enforcement agencies across countries in the fight against cybercrime and the use of rented services to attack online infrastructure.

The actions taken highlight the growing need for international coordination to identify and shut down the operations of services that provide tools for paid cyberattacks, and they demonstrate law enforcement’s ability to respond quickly to such threats.