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CYBER ATTACK SITE SHUT DOWN

Website linked to 4 million online attacks taken offline

An international operation, which involved the UK National Crime Agency, blocked Webstresser.org

A WEBSITE linked to four million cyberattacks around the world has been taken down.

An international operation, which involved the UK National Crime Agency, blocked Webstresser.org.

 Webstresser.org allowed criminals to 'buy' attacks and was used to target seven high street banks last year
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Webstresser.org allowed criminals to 'buy' attacks and was used to target seven high street banks last yearCredit: Getty - Contributor

Six suspected members of a gang behind the site were arrested in Bradford, Scotland and elsewhere.

The site allowed criminals to “buy” attacks and was used to target seven high street banks last year.

NCA officers believe an individual linked to the address in Bradford used the webstresser service to target the banks in November 2017.

The institutions were forced to cut back services or shut down entire systems, incurring costs in the hundreds of thousands.

 An international operation, which involved the UK National Crime Agency, blocked Webstresser.org
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An international operation, which involved the UK National Crime Agency, blocked Webstresser.orgCredit: Alamy

The NCA said: "Criminals across the world have used webstresser.org, which could be rented for as little as 14.99 US dollars, to launch in excess of four million attacks, in which high volumes of internet traffic are launched at target computers to disable them.”

“Individuals with little or no technical knowledge could rent the webstresser service to launch crippling DDOS attacks across the world.”

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