DDoS attacks fall by 60 per cent one week after WebStresser close down

New DDoS attack services expected to quickly emerge to fill the gap

German DDoS mitigation service Link11 claims that the number of attacks has fallen by almost two-thirds since the WebStresser 'service' was taken offline in coordinated raids last week.

That's according to figures released by the company to Bleeping Computer, which suggest that DDoS attacks have fallen by 60 per cent in just one week after the website was closed down.

On April 25, the people behind WebStresser were arrested in coordinated raids across the world and the site from which the DDoS-for-hire service was run shut down. It was believed to be the biggest such service on the internet.

Europol said that it was able to intercept and take down the site by coordinating with law enforcement officials from across Europe.

The site was a hit with cyber criminals, extortionists and hackers, enabling them to sign up for a premium account and orchestrate DDoS attacks globally using the organisation's network of compromised devices.

Now, Link11 has released a report showing that the takedown of the website has already reduced the DDoS attacks in Europe.

Speaking to Bleeping Computer, a spokesperson for the firm said it has "registered lower attack activity, especially on 25 and 26 April presumably due to [the] elimination of the source".

He explained: "The LSOC [Link11 Security Operation Centre] has seen a roughly 60 per cent decline in DDoS attacks on targets in Europe, [...] down 64 per cent from the peak number recorded."

But Onur Cengiz, who leads its security operation centre, warned that this effect may not last for long. He believes that other DDoS services will quickly emerge to fill the gap.

Europol claims that the DDoS marketplace was run by administrators based in the UK, Canada, Croatia and Serbia, and had been responsible for some four million attacks.

"We have a trend where the sophistication of certain professional hackers to provide resources is allowing individuals - and not just experienced ones - to conduct DDoS attacks and other kind of malicious activities online," said Steven Wilson, who heads Europol's European Cybercrime Centre.

"It's a growing problem, and one we take very seriously. Criminals are very good at collaborating, victimising millions of users in a moment from anywhere in the world.

"We need to collaborate as good as them with our international partners to turn the table on these criminals and shut down their malicious cyberattacks."