The Dstat.cc DDoS review platform has been seized by law enforcement, and two suspects have been arrested after the service helped fuel distributed denial-of-service attacks for years.
The seizure and arrests were conducted as part of "
Operation PowerOFF," an ongoing international law enforcement operation that targets DDoS-for-hire platforms, aka "booters" or "stressers," to seize infrastructure and arrest the operators.
These platforms are responsible for service disruptions to online services and can cause significant economic damages, as well as impact to the operation of critical services,
such as healthcare.
While Dstat.cc did not provide the DDoS attack services themselves, it helped facilitate attacks by allowing threat actors to showcase the effectiveness of their DDoS attack capabilities. It also provided reviews and recommendations on stressors that could be used for different types of attacks.
The service also hosted a Telegram channel under the same name with 6,600 members, which threat actors heavily used to discuss their latest attacks or offer their services.
BleepingComputer has confirmed that this Telegram channel has now been wiped of all messages and locked to prevent new discussions.
The police action targeting Dstat.cc, was spearheaded by the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) of the Frankfurt General Prosecutor's Office, the Hesse State Criminal Police Office (HLKA), and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA)
The authorities arrested two suspects, aged 19 and 28, who are believed to be managing Dstat.cc and also the synthetic drugs market, "Flight RCS." Flight RCS operated on the clear net, making it far more easily accessible to internet users.
"The platform enabled users, even without advanced technical skills, to perform DDoS attacks, disrupting or disabling online services,"
explains BKA.
