Particle.news
Download on the App Store
10 ARTICLES
·
3w ago

Ottawa Man Arrested in International Takedown of Kimwolf Botnet

The arrest follows a coordinated U.S., Canadian and German operation that disrupted botnet control, prompting unsealed U.S. charges seeking extradition.

botnet
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, some victims reported the DDoS attacks resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in losses and remediation expenses.
Image
Hackers use botnets to infect devices and then sell access to other cybercriminals

Overview

  • Canadian police arrested 23-year-old Jacob Butler in Ottawa and charged him in Canada while a U.S. criminal complaint was unsealed and U.S. authorities are seeking his extradition.
  • Investigators say they linked Butler to Kimwolf through IP logs, online account records, financial transaction data and messaging records obtained with legal process.
  • Kimwolf was run as a DDoS-for-hire service that researchers and prosecutors say enslaved millions of insecure IoT devices, issued more than 25,000 attack commands and helped produce attacks measured at nearly 30 terabits per second.
  • In March, U.S., German and Canadian teams seized command-and-control servers and related domains and unsealed seizure warrants for dozens of DDoS-for-hire services, but security firms warn parts of the threat ecosystem remain resilient.
  • The case underscores how everyday devices such as web cameras, digital photo frames and Android TV boxes can be co-opted into global cybercrime networks, causing service outages, heavy financial losses and risks to sensitive networks including Defense IP ranges.