6 ms·

What is the motivation of ddos attacks, in general? I assume it comes with some risk of being criminally prosecuted, so there must be some upside. Is it shakedo

What is the motivation of ddos attacks, in general? I assume it comes with some risk of being criminally prosecuted, so there must be some upside. Is it shakedown attempts, or competitor's sabotage? Neither seems too plausible in this case.

mardifoufs 3y ago
For dark net markets, it was commonly used to extract a ransom or to make other websites aware of their DDoS capabilities so that others pay the ransom too. But for a clear web website it's probably not a monetary incentive
raverbashing 3y ago
> it comes with some risk of being criminally prosecuted Has there been actual cases of prosecution?
- dewey 3y ago
  One recent example would be Zeekill, who ran a lot of DDoS attacks: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/02/finlands-most-wanted-hacker-nabbed-in-france/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/02/finlands-most-wanted-hac...
- Propa_ganda 3y ago
  Most of lulzsec, for example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec
- wildrhythms 3y ago
  https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-operator-illegal-booter-services-sentenced-conspiracy-commit-computer-damage-and-abuse https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-operator-illegal-boote... https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/criminal-charges-filed-los-angeles-and-alaska-conjunction-seizures-15-websites-offering-ddos https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/criminal-charges-filed-los-an... https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/individual-pleads-guilty-participating-internet-things-cyberattack-2016 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/individual-pleads-guilty-part...
- o11c 3y ago
  Specifically, have there been cases of prosecution for those who hire the services? All of the links given so far appear to be for operators.
mobiuscog 3y ago
script-kiddies, state actors, misconfigured botnets... Motivation can often be like why everything is re-written: "Because we can" or just "Because it's there". I'm not in the circle of these things, but history/news suggests that many are performed by those under the age of adult prosecution, or from countries that don't care, so there is minimal risk, and even when there is those involved are not the sort to believe they will get caught.
nurettin 3y ago
Most obvious is: someone doesn't like part of a code hosted on the website, and it is easy to take down. There was probably a cursory warning that we don't know about.
Am4TIfIsER0ppos 3y ago
Motivation? The "quoted a number we cannot reasonably achieve within our financial means" is all the motivation "someone" needs. So yeah "shakedown" or "protection racket".
- arrowsmith 3y ago
  Are you suggesting that CloudFlare is behind the same ddos attack that they're selling protection against? Because that's an absurd accusation.
  - mwcampbell 3y ago
    Why is it absurd? Any such provider has something to gain by scaring us into believing we need their protection.
  - fmajid 3y ago
    Not the parent, but obviously if the cost of CloudFlare protection is $XXX million, a protection racket can say: pay us 10% of $XXX M to make this problem go away. It's routinely deployed against highly profitable online businesses like gambling, but I doubt even at a 90% discount (and assuming SourceHut were willing to pay off criminals, which I doubt), they are not likely to be a profitable target for extortion and some other motive must be at play.
  - n1c00o 3y ago
    No, its more for the "fun" of making firms lose money, kinda LulzSec [0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec
fmajid 3y ago
Ransom, taking out competitors (e.g. gambling sites), censorship. The Chinese government regularly targets GitHub because it hosts VPN software.
dns_snek 3y ago
Often it's as simple as unhinged individuals renting an attack because they feel wronged by their victim. That's a big reason why Discord became so popular (Skype and Teamspeak revealed your IP address) and why the vast majority of online games stopped using direct P2P networking.

mardifoufs 3y ago

For dark net markets, it was commonly used to extract a ransom or to make other websites aware of their DDoS capabilities so that others pay the ransom too. But for a clear web website it's probably not a monetary incentive

raverbashing 3y ago

> it comes with some risk of being criminally prosecuted Has there been actual cases of prosecution?

dewey 3y ago
One recent example would be Zeekill, who ran a lot of DDoS attacks: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/02/finlands-most-wanted-hacker-nabbed-in-france/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/02/finlands-most-wanted-hac...
Propa_ganda 3y ago
Most of lulzsec, for example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec
wildrhythms 3y ago
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-operator-illegal-booter-services-sentenced-conspiracy-commit-computer-damage-and-abuse https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-operator-illegal-boote... https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/criminal-charges-filed-los-angeles-and-alaska-conjunction-seizures-15-websites-offering-ddos https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/criminal-charges-filed-los-an... https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/individual-pleads-guilty-participating-internet-things-cyberattack-2016 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/individual-pleads-guilty-part...
o11c 3y ago
Specifically, have there been cases of prosecution for those who hire the services? All of the links given so far appear to be for operators.

mobiuscog 3y ago

script-kiddies, state actors, misconfigured botnets... Motivation can often be like why everything is re-written: "Because we can" or just "Because it's there". I'm not in the circle of these things, but history/news suggests that many are performed by those under the age of adult prosecution, or from countries that don't care, so there is minimal risk, and even when there is those involved are not the sort to believe they will get caught.

nurettin 3y ago

Most obvious is: someone doesn't like part of a code hosted on the website, and it is easy to take down. There was probably a cursory warning that we don't know about.

Am4TIfIsER0ppos 3y ago

Motivation? The "quoted a number we cannot reasonably achieve within our financial means" is all the motivation "someone" needs. So yeah "shakedown" or "protection racket".

arrowsmith 3y ago
Are you suggesting that CloudFlare is behind the same ddos attack that they're selling protection against? Because that's an absurd accusation.
- mwcampbell 3y ago
  Why is it absurd? Any such provider has something to gain by scaring us into believing we need their protection.
- fmajid 3y ago
  Not the parent, but obviously if the cost of CloudFlare protection is $XXX million, a protection racket can say: pay us 10% of $XXX M to make this problem go away. It's routinely deployed against highly profitable online businesses like gambling, but I doubt even at a 90% discount (and assuming SourceHut were willing to pay off criminals, which I doubt), they are not likely to be a profitable target for extortion and some other motive must be at play.
- n1c00o 3y ago
  No, its more for the "fun" of making firms lose money, kinda LulzSec [0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec

fmajid 3y ago

Ransom, taking out competitors (e.g. gambling sites), censorship. The Chinese government regularly targets GitHub because it hosts VPN software.

dns_snek 3y ago

Often it's as simple as unhinged individuals renting an attack because they feel wronged by their victim. That's a big reason why Discord became so popular (Skype and Teamspeak revealed your IP address) and why the vast majority of online games stopped using direct P2P networking.