Rapper Bot dismantled after 370,000 global cyberattacks
Ethan Foltz, accused of running Rapper Bot as a DDoS-for-hire service, faces a possible 10-year prison sentence if found guilty.
A 22-year-old man from Oregon has been charged with operating one of the most powerful botnets ever uncovered, Rapper Bot.
Federal prosecutors in Alaska said the network was responsible for over 370,000 cyberattacks worldwide since 2021, targeting technology firms, a central social media platform and even a US government system.
The botnet relied on malware that infected everyday devices such as Wi-Fi routers and digital video recorders. Once hijacked, the compromised machines were forced to overwhelm servers with traffic in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
Investigators estimate that Rapper Bot infiltrated as many as 95,000 devices at its peak.
The accused administrator, Ethan Foltz, allegedly ran the network as a DDoS-for-hire service, temporarily charging customers to control its capabilities.
Authorities said its most significant attack generated more than six terabits of data per second, making it among the most destructive DDoS networks. Foltz faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The arrest was carried out under Operation PowerOFF, an international effort to dismantle criminal groups offering DDoS-for-hire services.
US Attorney Michael J. Heyman said the takedown had effectively disrupted a transnational threat, ending Foltz’s role in the sprawling cybercrime operation.
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