Two 19-year-olds from central Israel were indicted on Tuesday for running a business that disabled websites by launching distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on them.
The two committed tens of thousands of attacks, the indictment said, with the price per attack ranging from $20 to $500. Altogether, they earned at least $613,000 from their illegal business.
The indictment, filed in the Kfar Sava Magistrate’s Court, charges the two with various cybercrimes plus a series of other offenses, including conspiracy to commit a crime, obstructing justice and possession of child pornography.
The last charge stems from the many pedophilic photos and videos found when their computers were searched.
Both defendants were minors when the alleged offenses were committed.
Aside from launching their own DDoS attacks, the defendants also assisted two other groups of hackers, known as Lizard Squad and PoodleCorp, in initiating additional attacks, the indictment said.
The prosecution said the indictment was the result of a lengthy international probe conducted in conjunction with investigators from the United States, Britain, Holland and Sweden under the auspices of Europol. Several suspects were also arrested in other countries, the indictment added.
Attorney Maayan Haimovich, representing one defendant, blasted the police in a statement for “working tirelessly to leak confidential and classified material to the media.”
“As for the indictment, which also leaked, and hasn’t yet reached me, I can only say the case will be heard in camera,” the lawyer’s statement added.
