Dozens of teenagers arrested by the Europol over DDoS attacks

December 13, 2016  By Pierluigi Paganini


The Europol announced a joint international operation targeting teenagers suspected to have used DDOS cyber attack tools.

The Europan law enforcement agency Europol has announced that police from 13 countries across the world have arrested 34 users of DDoS attack tools and interviewed and warned 101 suspects.

“From 5 to 9 December 2016, Europol and law enforcement authorities from Australia, Belgium, France, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States carried out a coordinated action targeting users of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cyber-attack tools, leading to 34 arrests and 101 suspects interviewed and cautioned.” states the official announcement from the Europol.

Europol ddos arrests

The Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) provided its support to law enforcement worldwide to identify suspects in the EU and beyond. The individuals arrested are mainly teenagers under the age of 20.

“The participating countries worked together in the framework of the EMPACT (European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats) project targeting cyber-attacks that affect critical infrastructure and information systems in the EU.” continues the Europol.
All the arrested people are suspected of paying for booters services that they used to launch massive DDoS attacks.  The tools used to power the cyber attacks are part of the criminal ‘DDoS for hire’ facilities.
“Today’s generation is closer to technology than ever before, with the potential of exacerbating the threat of cybercrime. Many IT enthusiasts get involved in seemingly low-level fringe cybercrime activities from a young age, unaware of the consequences that such crimes carry.” Steven Wilson, Head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), commented. “One of the key priorities of law enforcement should be to engage with these young people to prevent them from pursuing a criminal path, helping them understand how they can use their skills for a more constructive purpose. “

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – DDoS, hacking)



Pierluigi Paganini
Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.





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