Man arrested over DDoS attacks on Aussie businesses

A 37-year-old US man has been arrested in a joint operation by Australian, Canadian, and US police for causing distributed denial of service attacks on businesses, including Fairfax Media, in the three countries.

The Australian Federal Police today said the FBI had arrested the Iranian-born US citizen on Wednesday.

He is accused of causing DDoS attacks and making certain demands of the victims throughout 2015.

One of those alleged victims is Fairfax Media, which this morning reported that the DDoS attack was an attempt by the man to expunge his name from online stories.

It named the arrested man as Kamyar "Andy" Jahanrakhshan, and said he had allegedly tried to coerce companies into removing references about his past convictions for credit card fraud, perpetrated in several countries including Australia.

The AFP said Jahanrakhshan's arrest ended a two-and-a-half-year joint investigation.

“This is a timely reminder to cyber criminals that international law enforcement is a team sport. Our ability and willingness to work together at a distance and across borders has never been greater,” the AFP's manager of cyber crime operations commander David McLean said in a statement.

Jahanrakhshan has been detained in custody after appearing in a US district court.