Ethan Foltz, a 22-year-old man from Eugene, Oregon, has been charged with conducting large-scale DDoS attacks since 2021.
According to the United States authorities, Foltz was the administrator of a botnet called Rapper Bot.
Rapper Bot, also known as “Eleven Eleven Botnet* and “CowBot,” is a botnet that comprises roughly between 65,000 to 95,000 infected devices, primarily WiFi routers and Digital Video Recorders (DVRS).
Using this botnet, Foltz was able to perform DDoS attacks between 2 to 3 terabits per second. Rapper Bot’s largest DDoS attack exceeded 6 terabits per second. A DDoS attack averaging 2 terabits per second, lasting 30 seconds, might cost a victim anywhere from $500 to $10,000.
Allegedly, from April 2025 to present, Rapper Bot conducted over 370,000 DDoS attacks, targeting approximately 18,000 unique victims in over 80 countries.
Court documents say that Foltz and his co-conspirators monetized Rapper Bot by providing affiliates access to “one of the most sophisticated and powerful DDoS-for-hire botnets in existence.” DDoS attacks that were carried out by Rapper Bot have also been used to extort victims, leveraging them into paying extortion money to cease the attack.
Since August 6th, 2025, no more DDoS attacks have been reported from Rapper Bot. That’s when law enforcement authorities conducted a search warrant on Foltz’s residence in Oregon. Officers obtained administrative control of Rapper Bot. The house search was part of Operation PowerOFF, an ongoing, coordinated effort among international law enforcement agencies aimed at dismantling criminal DDoS-for-hire infrastructures worldwide.
“Rapper Bot was one of the most powerful DDoS botnets to ever exist, but the outstanding investigatory work by Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) cyber agents and support of my office and industry partners has put an end to Foltz’s time as administrator and effectively disrupted the activities of this transnational criminal group,” Michael J. Heyman, US Attorney for the District of Alaska, said in a statement.
Foltz is being charged with aiding and abetting computer intrusions. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
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