Polish Police Arrest Four in Global Crackdown on DDoS-for-Hire Networks

Four people are now in custody after Polish authorities, working with international partners, dismantled six DDoS-for-hire websites responsible for thousands of cyberattacks around the globe.

These services, which made launching a cyberattack as easy as ordering takeout, targeted schools, hospitals, government systems, and even video game servers — often for just ten euros a hit.

Booter Sites Masquerading as “Testing Tools”

The internet’s dark alleys are full of tricks, and these booter sites were no exception.

Though advertised as tools for stress testing networks, their true purpose was far more malicious. The six busted services — Cfxapi, Cfxsecurity, neostress, jetstress, quickdown, and zapcut — let users blast websites offline with zero technical know-how. Just pay, pick a target, and go.

And it worked. Investigators believe these platforms were behind thousands of coordinated DDoS attacks since 2022, affecting businesses, public institutions, and everyday users alike.

Europol didn’t mince words in its statement Wednesday: these were no harmless tech toys. They were weapons for hire.

A Multi-Nation Sting with Digital Muscle

This wasn’t just a local bust. Authorities from Poland, the U.S., the Netherlands, and Germany teamed up in a rare show of unified cyber-policing. Together, they took down the infrastructure behind the attacks and handcuffed the people pulling the strings.

The Netherlands shared key data scooped from the booter sites. The U.S. seized a whopping nine domains used to run these services. Germany helped identify suspects and hand over valuable intelligence. And Poland? That’s where four of the main operators got caught.

One-sentence update: Dutch agents even ran fake booter sites to catch would-be attackers red-handed.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what each country did:

• Poland: Arrested four suspects tied to the platforms

• Netherlands: Analyzed server data and shared it with global partners

• United States: Seized nine domain names used by the platforms

• Germany: Tracked suspects and contributed intelligence

Operation PowerOFF Strikes Again

This takedown wasn’t just a one-off. It’s the latest wave in Operation PowerOFF, an ongoing campaign against booter sites that’s been in motion since late 2018.

Remember Dstat.cc? Gone. DigitalStress? Toast. And it’s not just websites — actual people are going down too. Two other arrests happened in Poland previously, and there’s no sign of this slowing down.

And the numbers? Well, they speak volumes.

Users Paid €10 to Launch Devastating Cyberattacks

Yep, just ten euros. That’s all it took to weaponize these platforms.

They weren’t hard to use either. Anyone with a PayPal account and a grudge could hit a school district or small business with a flood of traffic strong enough to knock websites offline. All from a dashboard that looked like an app store.

And that’s the scary part — this isn’t high-level hacking. It’s cybercrime made easy.

One sentence here: Investigators say the simplicity of these platforms is what made them so dangerous.

To put it plainly, they weren’t selling a service — they were selling silence. No tech background needed. No hacking skill required. Just pick your plan, enter an IP address, and boom.

Warning to Future Users: You’re Being Watched

Here’s where it gets even more interesting.

The Dutch police didn’t just help investigate — they got creative. They built fake booter websites of their own, acting like honeypots. People who tried to use them were met with a warning: we know what you’re doing, and it’s illegal.

It’s a clever twist. Instead of waiting for attacks to happen, they’re now scaring users straight before they even press the button.

Short paragraph: And it seems to be working.

While booter platforms have always existed in the gray shadows of the internet, operations like this are turning up the heat. Law enforcement isn’t just reacting anymore — they’re getting ahead of the curve.

Global Crackdown Highlights Shifting Cybercrime Tactics

The arrests in Poland are just one piece of a much larger puzzle.

Cybercrime used to be the domain of sophisticated actors working behind layers of encryption and proxy servers. But now? A growing chunk of it looks more like e-commerce — user-friendly, pay-to-play, and incredibly damaging.

And that’s what makes this bust so important. It’s not just about stopping a few bad actors. It’s about dismantling the infrastructure that makes cybercrime scalable.

The more accessible these tools become, the more necessary it is to strike at the core. Shut down the platforms, seize the domains, arrest the admins. And if you can, flip the script — scare the users before they strike.

This latest wave of arrests isn’t the end. It’s a warning shot.