Operation PowerOFF: 27 DDoS platforms taken down just before the holidays

Law enforcement agencies worldwide have joined forces this holiday season to take down 27 distributed denial-of-service platforms used by hackers during the festive period.

Cybercriminals often launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks during the holidays, mainly to create chaos, cause financial losses for companies, and cause reputational damage.

However, hacktivists may take down sites for ideological reasons, as groups like Killnet and Anonymous Sudan have done in the past.

But this year, Europol and various other law enforcement agencies have successfully conducted operation ‘PowerOFF,’ which has taken 27 DDoS platforms offline.

These websites are known as “booter” and “stressor” sites that offer DDoS as an as-a-service, allowing hackers to bombard their targets with a hoard of illegal traffic, making it inaccessible to those who wish to use the website legitimately.

Some of the websites that were taken down include zdstresser.net, orbitalstress.net, and starkstresser.net.

Alongside the takedown of 27 platforms, three administrators in France and Germany were arrested, actions were taken against several users, and a further 300 users were identified.

Europol is also taking proactive measures, such as Google search ads and YouTube ads targeted at those looking for DDoS-for-hire tools or tutorials on how to conduct a DDoS attack.

In addition to these measures, more than 250 warning letters, over 2,000 emails, and knock-and-talks will be used to deter users of illegal online services.

This operation coordinated by Europol involved 15 separate countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Latvia, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Romania, the UK, and the US.