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> The UK’s NCA, meanwhile, has not only launched new advertising campaigns but even run its own fake booter services to identify would-be customers and then sen

> The UK’s NCA, meanwhile, has not only launched new advertising campaigns but even run its own fake booter services to identify would-be customers and then send them warnings—sometimes even with in-person visits—about the consequences of paying for criminal DDOS attacks. The FBI would be indicting them, not just warning them -- go to all that trouble of setting up a fake site, and then you just give up actually indicting them for their crime? What's even the point of that? That they didn't know it was a fake site is no defense, the FBI routinely, say, sells people fake bombs and then indicts them.

spondylosaurus 3y ago
The NCA too, not just the FBI. But the Wired article goes on to say: > Big Pipes’ Allison Nixon says she hopes that softer tactics like those can intercept would-be booter service operators early, before they start committing felonies: She’s found that most booter operators start as customers before launching their own service. But for people who aren’t dissuaded by those interventions, she says, Big Pipes and its partners at the FBI will still be watching them. > “The hope is that this whole show of force will convince some of them to quit and get a real job,” Nixon says. “We want to send a message that there are people tracking you. There are people paying attention to you. We have our eyes on you, we might get you next. And it might not even be on Christmas.” So the honeypots sound like a sort of catch-and-release strategy to scare kids before they start their own DDoS enterprises.
- jrochkind1 3y ago
  Right, I was amazed that the NCA seemed to be kinder and gentler than the FBI, which has no problem entrapping people and then putting them in prison.
  - lmm 3y ago
    Wait until you hear about how British law enforcement approaches gun issues.
    - thombat 3y ago
      That seems to imply that they're notably heavy-handed - would you like to expand on this?
florbo 3y ago
There's an extreme difference in severity between trying to buy a bomb and trying to pay for DDoSaaS. I'd rather people come out of this sort of thing unscathed but wiser, especially if they're simply ignorant of the law, which seems to be the objective of that tactic. Besides, if something is illegal and there's a significant portion of offenders who are truly ignorant of its illegality, perhaps a new approach to education is needed, which this tactic also covers. Maybe other organizations will take notes...
aendruk 3y ago
> What's even the point Education

spondylosaurus 3y ago

The NCA too, not just the FBI. But the Wired article goes on to say: > Big Pipes’ Allison Nixon says she hopes that softer tactics like those can intercept would-be booter service operators early, before they start committing felonies: She’s found that most booter operators start as customers before launching their own service. But for people who aren’t dissuaded by those interventions, she says, Big Pipes and its partners at the FBI will still be watching them. > “The hope is that this whole show of force will convince some of them to quit and get a real job,” Nixon says. “We want to send a message that there are people tracking you. There are people paying attention to you. We have our eyes on you, we might get you next. And it might not even be on Christmas.” So the honeypots sound like a sort of catch-and-release strategy to scare kids before they start their own DDoS enterprises.

jrochkind1 3y ago
Right, I was amazed that the NCA seemed to be kinder and gentler than the FBI, which has no problem entrapping people and then putting them in prison.
- lmm 3y ago
  Wait until you hear about how British law enforcement approaches gun issues.
  - thombat 3y ago
    That seems to imply that they're notably heavy-handed - would you like to expand on this?

florbo 3y ago

There's an extreme difference in severity between trying to buy a bomb and trying to pay for DDoSaaS. I'd rather people come out of this sort of thing unscathed but wiser, especially if they're simply ignorant of the law, which seems to be the objective of that tactic. Besides, if something is illegal and there's a significant portion of offenders who are truly ignorant of its illegality, perhaps a new approach to education is needed, which this tactic also covers. Maybe other organizations will take notes...

aendruk 3y ago

> What's even the point Education