The Department of Justice credited multiple tech and security firms for assistance in an investigation that resulted in charges against Oregon resident Ethan Foltz, 22, for operating the Rapper Bot DDoS network. The botnet reportedly executed more than 370,000 attacks over four months, leveraging up to 95,000 compromised devices, including WiFi routers and digital video recorders, and capable of launching up to six terabits per second. Charges allege Foltz wrote and administered the malware, offered paid attack services charging $500–$10,000, and targeted a US government agency, a major social media platform, and several US tech companies. Authorities executed a search warrant and seized computers on August 6.
The US Department of Justice has thanked Akamai, Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare, Digital Ocean, Flashpoint, Google, PayPal, and Unit 221B for their assistance in an investigation that last week led to charges against an alleged operator of the Rapper Bot denial-of-service network. Oregon resident Ethan Foltz, 22, was formally charged by the Feds for running the network, which ran over 370,000 attacks over the last four months.
It's alleged Foltz wrote and administered malware that used up to 95,000 infected machines to launch traffic-flooding attacks, many of them WiFi routers and digital video recorders. According to the charges, Foltz offered his services to take down portals and had enough slaved systems to launch attacks at up to six terabits per second. Typically, it's said, he charged between $500 to $10,000 for a two terabit per second attack lasting 30 seconds or more.
Authorities raided his home on August 6 and allegedly seized the computers used to run the botnet. "Rapper Bot was one of the most powerful DDoS botnets to ever exist, but the outstanding investigatory work by 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," said US Attorney Michael Heyman for the District of Alaska.
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