Scots hacker arrested after DDoS attack

By

A 27-year old Scot has been arrested under the 1990 Computer Misuse Act on suspicion of launching distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. A joint operation between the US secret service and Scottish police culminated in a raid in Elgin, northeast Scotland in which a number of houses were searched.

In an interview with the BBC Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Ward said, "Operation Casper has involved the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA) working closely with the US Secret Service and is an excellent example of how law enforcement agencies, working together, can impact on internet-related crime."


DDoS attacks from remote areas such as northeast Scotland are not unusual. In recent months groups have been arrested in Russia for similar crimes. The attacks, in which websites are overloaded with requests from a number of compromised or 'zombie' computers, are used to extort companies that rely on their websites for business, such as online bookmakers.

For Ward, though, there is a flip-side. "The internet does offer criminals new ways of committing crime but it also offers investigative opportunities to law enforcement that the SDEA will continue to exploit," he said.

www.scottish.police.uk/main/campaigns/dea/

Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.
Copyright © SC Magazine, US edition
Tags:

Most Read Articles

Microsoft knew of SharePoint security flaw in May, initial patch ineffective

Microsoft knew of SharePoint security flaw in May, initial patch ineffective

ACSC alerts to exploited MS SharePoint remote code execution flaw

ACSC alerts to exploited MS SharePoint remote code execution flaw

"PoisonSeed" attack does not bypass hardware MFA

"PoisonSeed" attack does not bypass hardware MFA

Qantas obtains court order to prevent third-party access to stolen data

Qantas obtains court order to prevent third-party access to stolen data

Log In

  |  Forgot your password?