DDoS attacks marketed as "Stress Test"

According to a report by security blogger Brian Krebs, DDoS attacks are being marketed as Stress Test and, believe it or not, apparently are being sanctioned by the FBI.

These "booters" sell their product to the public under the guise of allowing administrators to stress-test their own systems. Krebs interviewed one such booter, a 22 year old US citizen, who considered the enterprise perfectly legal. The booter explained that, for scenarios such as DNS amplification attacks, his service merely took advantage of many DNS servers' default settings. If server operators didn't agree they could prevent it, he told Krebs.

Below is an example of the offer:

The "booters" publicly market their attacks as stress tests

The booter explained that he works for the FBI, which allow him to receive full access to the log files of all customer activities in return. He even provided details of his FBI contact in an email full of spelling and grammatical mistakes. When Krebs tried to call the number, his enquires were rebuffed. Shortly thereafter, the booter contacted Krebs and said: "I have been asked to block you. Have a nice day."