London Teen Charged in Connection with Massive Spamhaus DDoS Attacks

[MannDude]

Read more here: http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/london-teen-charged-connection-massive-spamhaus-ddos-attacks#vpsboard

A London teenager has been charged with computer misuse, fraud and money laundering offenses in connection with the massive DDoS attack against anti-spam organization Spamhaus last year.

According to the UK’s National Crime Agency, the 17-year-old male was arrested in April 2013. Police seized a number of electronic devices at the time of the arrest.

The male (name withheld since he is a minor) was bailed to appear at Camberwell Green Youth Court on Monday.

Another example of playing stupid games and winning stupid prizes. Happy to see that there are consequences to such attacks being dished out. Wonder if the teen was a member of any of the community forums? (vpsB/LET/WHT)

 

[ChrisM]

Wonder if the teen was a member of any of the community forums? (vpsB/LET/WHT)

Wouldn't surprise me if he is related to a provider who advertises on those forums. 

 

[KuJoe]

EDIT: Nevermind, I noticed the article said he was arrested in 2013.

 

[drmike]

Me, I wonder if this lad is the same person that was railing against Spamhaus a week or two ago on LET.   Posted a semi-alright long post, but went off the rails (which I can sympathize with).

There was a thread labeling Spamhaus a criminal organization and someone posted it to Reddit.... oolala...

Just shows the slow moving arms of justice...

 

[Flapadar]

Me, I wonder if this lad is the same person that was railing against Spamhaus a week or two ago on LET.   Posted a semi-alright long post, but went off the rails (which I can sympathize with).

There was a thread labeling Spamhaus a criminal organization and someone posted it to Reddit.... oolala...

Just shows the slow moving arms of justice...

The arrest was carried out last April (2013) so that will be someone else. The person who made that post is likely the main operator of "stophaus".

I think I know who this guy is. I've cross checked the supposed most accurate address for him and it's 2.3 miles away from the court that he's set to appear at - his nearest court. Not going to post more details to avoid stirring the pot until I'm sure myself. 

 

[fixidixi]

to be honest i really hate spamhaus as they blacklist you in no-time and if you arent a big-shot (provider) you wont get an anwser from them EVER. ive been black-listed by them simply because ive sent newsletters to a huge number of accounts.. in the end ive payed for mailchimp...

 

[D. Strout]

to be honest i really hate spamhaus as they blacklist you in no-time [...] ive been black-listed by them simply because ive sent newsletters to a huge number of accounts

Where does SpamHaus even get it's info? End-user reports? Honeypot e-mail addresses?

 

[drmike]

Where does SpamHaus even get it's info? End-user reports? Honeypot e-mail addresses?

That's a good question....

I went looking... not a ton jumping out in search...

This one is vague, but long and good:

http://www.mailchannels.com/blog/2013/03/fifty-questions-for-spamhaus-with-our-answers/

TL;DR, honeypots and fake email accounts created precisely as baited traps.   They say they never use any email account ever used by any user.  So I assume the accounts may be identifiable to some degree, at least a subset of them that are too complex for anyone to use as email, involve nuts characters in certain order, etc.

They also mention newly issued IP ranges are demoted and scrutinized greater...

 

[Flapadar]

The arrest was carried out last April (2013) so that will be someone else. The person who made that post is likely the main operator of "stophaus".

I think I know who this guy is. I've cross checked the supposed most accurate address for him and it's 2.3 miles away from the court that he's set to appear at - his nearest court. Not going to post more details to avoid stirring the pot until I'm sure myself. 

I've just got confirmation it was the guy I thought it was. Seth, the individual known for creating a cheat for Garry's Mod called SethHack. Article has his first name wrong. Plead guilty to all charges. 

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/12/spamhaus-cloudflare-attacker-pleads-guilty-to-computer-abuse-child-porn-charges/

 

[rds100]

Wonder if the teen was a member of any of the community forums? (vpsB/LET/WHT)

http://www.lowendtalk.com/profile/30059/superpilesos

 

[Flapadar]

Wonder if the teen was a member of any of the community forums? (vpsB/LET/WHT)

https://www.webhostingtalk.com/member.php?u=392310

 

[Steven F]

Why does the article title contain "child porn"?

 

[TurnkeyInternet]

I wish there were far more severe consequences than just slaps on the wrist, maybe 6 months of suspended sentences etc for cyber crimes,  There really is little deterent, but its nice to see they got one fish.

 

[Flapadar]

Why does the article title contain "child porn"?

Did a little digging and the author was going to mention the CP charges, but decided it wasn't really relevant to the article he wrote.

https://twitter.com/briankrebs/status/544167404386152448

 

[Flapadar]

He's now been sentenced, however its not public record what he's been given. It looked like prosecution were pushing the money laundering side hardest rather than computer misuse or CP, judging by the court records. 

 

[HostAg]

I think they hired him for the government cyber division. I see the British using every asset they have.

 

[William]

As far as i know Sven (the owner of Cyberbunker, "President of Republic Cyberbunker" and owner of Stophaus) is still in jail in Spain awaiting extradiction to the Netherlands (which is unlikely to happen as he seems to have Spanish citizenship)

 

[Flapadar]

As far as i know Sven (the owner of Cyberbunker, "President of Republic Cyberbunker" and owner of Stophaus) is still in jail in Spain awaiting extradiction to the Netherlands (which is unlikely to happen as he seems to have Spanish citizenship)

Wasn't Sven Spamdrew Stephens' partner in crime, with spamdrew being the main only face behind stophaus? 

 

[drmike]

I wish there were far more severe consequences than just slaps on the wrist, maybe 6 months of suspended sentences etc for cyber crimes,  There really is little deterent, but its nice to see they got one fish.

I think they ought to sentence desktop terrorists to 6 months of hard labor followed by a bootcamp and after that perhaps they carrot dangle some government consulting / employment.   These lads all need some discipline and timeouts to do bigger worldview.

 

[jarland]

More arrests for DDOS attacks please. In a world where the internet becomes so increasingly relevant to every day life, one person deciding to forcefully bend it to their will is not acceptable. Spamhaus tries to bend the internet to their will, but no one forces people to use them. A DDOS attack is designed to remove choice and force peoply to comply. It is extremely childish.