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Operation PowerOFF Seizes 53 DDoS Domains, Exposes 3 Million Criminal Accounts

Published:

17 April 2026 at 05:46:00

Alert date:

17 April 2026 at 07:01:23

Source:

thehackernews.com

Network Infrastructure, Critical Infrastructure

International law enforcement operation Operation PowerOFF successfully dismantled a major DDoS-for-hire criminal infrastructure. The operation seized 53 domains used for commercial distributed denial-of-service attacks and arrested four individuals. The takedown exposed over 3 million criminal accounts and disrupted services used by more than 75,000 cybercriminals. This coordinated effort targeted the technical infrastructure supporting DDoS-for-hire services, dealing a significant blow to the cybercriminal ecosystem that enables easy access to attack tools.

Technical details

Operation PowerOFF disrupted 53 domains providing commercial DDoS-for-hire services, seized technical infrastructure including servers and databases, and obtained access to databases containing over 3 million criminal user accounts. The operation targeted booter services that allow users to launch DDoS attacks against websites, servers, or networks. These services enable individuals with little technical knowledge to execute large-scale attacks. The infrastructure consists of servers, databases, and technical components that facilitate DDoS-for-hire activities. The operation also disrupted the RapperBot DDoS botnet that conducted attacks targeting victims in over 80 countries since 2021.

Mitigation steps:

Law enforcement is sending warning emails and letters to identified criminal users, issued 25 search warrants, and seized criminal infrastructure to prevent further damage to victims. Organizations should monitor for DDoS attack patterns and implement appropriate DDoS protection measures.

Affected products:

DDoS-for-hire services
Booter services
RapperBot botnet