Two teens nabbed for cyberattacks that caused widespread damages

The attacks targeted thousands of computers and caused millions of dollars in damages.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD
Cyber hackers [illustrative] (photo credit: REUTERS)
Cyber hackers [illustrative]
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Two Israeli youths were arrested Tuesday, following a year-and-a-half undercover investigation by the Israel Police’s Cyber Crimes Unit into ongoing international cyberattacks, which have targeted thousands of computers and caused millions of dollars in damages.
According to the police, the unidentified suspects – both minors from the Sharon region – created a shell company in England to sell distributed denial of service, or DDoS, “attack packages” used to prevent access to websites and Internet servers worldwide.
“In January of 2016, a covert investigation was opened against the suspects who set up and managed a website called vdos-s.com, which sold packages created to cause the servers to crash,” police said.
“The site’s services were offered by the defendants via Internet advertising, social networks and various professional forums, allowing potential customers to choose between packages ranging from $19.99 to $499.99.”
The Israel police worked with Europol after more than two million cyberattacks were carried out in the US, England, the Netherlands and Sweden, causing millions of dollars of economic damage to various organizations around the world and netting the suspects more than $613,000. The money was seized after the suspects’ bank accounts were identified and frozen.
“The Israel Police will continue to act determinedly against perpetrators of crimes, whether in physical or virtual space,” the police said after the arrests.
“The cyber units of the police will work with all the most advanced technological means to expose, establish an evidentiary infrastructure, investigate and prosecute perpetrators of crimes against innocent victims.”