German Authorities Seize Servers of Cybercriminal DDoS-for-Hire Service FlyHosting

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German Authorities Seize Servers of Cybercriminal DDoS-for-Hire Service FlyHosting

By CircleID Reporter
April 01, 2023, 3:17 pm PDT Views: 8,513 Add Comment

A seizure notice was displayed on the FlyHosting website following the raid. Image: Hessian State Criminal Police Office

German authorities have seized Internet servers that powered FlyHosting, a dark web offering that catered to cybercriminals operating DDoS-for-hire services, according to a report by Brian Krebs from KrebsOnSecurity. FlyHosting had been open for business since November 2022, and was used for malicious activities such as hosting malware, botnet controllers, and carrying out DDoS attacks.

On March 30, eight search warrants were served, and five individuals aged 16-24 were identified as suspects operating the Internet service. The German Federal Criminal Police Office also reported that the suspects had been involved in numerous DDoS attacks since mid-2021, resulting in the websites of various companies and the Hesse police being overloaded and rendered inoperable at times.

Mobile phones, laptops, tablets, storage media, and handwritten notes were seized from the suspects, as well as servers located in Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands. This raid on FlyHosting comes alongside a broader law enforcement crackdown on DDoS-for-hire services internationally, including the U.K.‘s National Crime Agency setting up phony DDoS-for-hire websites to collect information on users, remind them that DDoS attacks are illegal, and the U.S.

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By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
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