The US Division of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday introduced expenses in opposition to a US nationwide for his alleged function in working a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet.
The person, Ethan Foltz, 22, of Eugene, Oregon, was the alleged administrator of the botnet generally known as RapperBot, Eleven Eleven Botnet, and CowBot, which abused ensnared IoT units, primarily DVR units and Wi-Fi routers, to launch large DDoS assaults in opposition to victims in additional than 80 nations.
Based on the indictment, Foltz and his co-conspirators offered entry to the botnet’s capabilities. Between April and August 2025, RapperBot was allegedly used to launch over 370,000 DDoS assaults in opposition to 18,000 distinctive victims.
A US authorities community, US tech firms, and a social media platform had been among the many focused organizations, paperwork introduced in courtroom present.
RapperBot is estimated to have been frequently abusing between 65,000 and 95,000 contaminated units to launch assaults of roughly 2-3 terabits per second (Tbs). One of many largest RapperBot assaults allegedly peaked at 6 Tbs.
The botnet was first detailed in 2022, when FortiGuard Labs warned that, though it was based mostly on Mirai code, it had credential brute-forcing capabilities, was concentrating on SSH servers, and contained a persistence mechanism.
The Justice Division says RapperBot was disrupted in early August, following the execution of a search warrant on Foltz’s residence in Oregon, which supplied legislation enforcement with administrative management of the botnet.
Foltz has been charged with aiding and abetting pc intrusions and faces as much as 10 years in jail if discovered responsible.Commercial. Scroll to proceed studying.
“Rapper Bot was one of the highly effective DDoS botnets to ever exist, however the excellent investigatory work by DCIS cyber brokers and help of my workplace and trade companions has put an finish to Foltz’s time as administrator and successfully disrupted the actions of this transnational legal group,” US Legal professional Michael J. Heyman for the District of Alaska mentioned.
RapperBot’s takedown, the DOJ says, was carried out at the side of Operation PowerOFF, a global legislation enforcement effort that beforehand led to the disruption of dozens of DDoS-for-hire providers, together with DigitalStress, Stresser.tech, Neostress, Webstresser, and plenty of others.
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