Stresser (or booter) services provide denial-of-service attack as a service, usually as a criminal enterprise.[1]

They typically have simple web-based front ends, and accept payment over the web. Marketed and promoted as stress-testing tools, they can be used to perform unauthorized denial-of-service attacks, and allow technically unsophisticated attackers access to sophisticated attack tools.[2] Usually powered by a botnet, the traffic produced by a consumer stresser can range anywhere from 5-50 Gbit/s, which can, in most cases, deny the average home user internet access.[3]

Targets of booter/stresser services include network gaming services.[2][4] Motivations for the use of stresser services include revenge, extortion, and simple mischief.

Law enforcement activity

The use or provision of booter/stresser services for unauthorized DDoS attacks is illegal in both the United States and the United Kingdom under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Computer Misuse Act 1990 respectively.[1][5]

In 2023 it was revealed that a cross-industry organization called "Big Pipes" with representatives from major Internet companies had been working with law enforcement to find and shut down illegal booter/stresser services for the previous five years.[4]

The UK National Crime Agency has set up numerous "honeypot" websites purporting to be booter/stresser services. The details of people registering with these fake services are logged.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 "The FBI and International Law Enforcement Partners Intensify Efforts to Combat Illegal DDoS Attacks". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  2. 1 2 Krebs, Brian (August 15, 2015). "Stress-Testing the Booter Services, Financially". Krebs on Security. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  3. ↑ Mubarakali, Azath; Srinivasan, Karthik; Mukhalid, Reham; Jaganathan, Subash C. B.; Marina, Ninoslav (2020-01-26). "Security challenges in internet of things: Distributed denial of service attack detection using support vector machine-based expert systems". Computational Intelligence. 36 (4): 1580–1592. doi:10.1111/coin.12293. ISSN 0824-7935. S2CID 214114645.
  4. 1 2 Greenberg, Andy. "The Team of Sleuths Quietly Hunting Cyberattack-for-Hire Services". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  5. ↑ "DDoS attacks are illegal". nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  6. ↑ "UK Sets Up Fake Booter Sites To Muddy DDoS Market". Krebs on Security. Retrieved 2023-05-12.

See also


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