The FBI has seized the domains for NightmareStresser, a DDoS-for-hire service that had been running since at least 2022 and billed itself as the “#1 online IP booter” available around the clock. The service allowed anyone to rent access to botnets of compromised home routers and IoT devices and launch distributed denial-of-service attacks at targets worldwide, capable of hitting up to 200 Gbps across multiple network layers. Before the shutdown, NightmareStresser had over 566,000 registered users and 52 dedicated servers. The FBI Cyber Division said the platform had been used to launch hundreds of thousands of actual or attempted DDoS attacks against victims globally.
This is the second time U.S. authorities have targeted NightmareStresser — in December 2022, the DOJ seized the same domain and arrested six suspects connected to multiple DDoS-for-hire platforms. The current seizure is part of Operation PowerOFF, an ongoing international law enforcement effort against DDoS-as-a-service infrastructure that began in December 2018. The operation has previously taken down the UK’s DigitalStress service, the Dstat.cc DDoS review site, and dozens of other booter platforms across two coordinated seizure waves. Polish authorities in the same joint action arrested four suspects linked to six more DDoS platforms targeting schools, governments, and gaming services worldwide.