The Department of Justice (DoJ) today announced the seizure of 15 domains associated with distributed denial-of-service-for-hire services, as well as criminal charges against three individuals who facilitated the domains. The DoJ explained that the sites, also known as “booter” or “stresser” services, enabled customers to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which “flood targeted computers with information and prevent them from being able to access the internet.” On Wednesday, the FBI seized the domains of 15 booter services, including some of the world’s leading DDoS-for-hire services. Domains seized include critical-boot.com, ragebooter.com, downthem.org, and quantumstress.net. Matthew Gatrel and Juan Martinez were also charged Wednesday with conspiring to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act through the operation of services known as Downthem and Ampnode. On Dec. 12, David Bukoski was charged with aiding and abetting computer intrusions. “DDoS for hire services such as these pose a significant national threat,” said U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder. “Coordinated investigations and prosecutions such as these demonstrate the importance of cross-District collaboration and coordination with public sector partners.”
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