Post-Mirai, HackForums kills off white hat DDoS rental service

The success of the Mirai botnet was apparently a shiver looking for a spine to run up: HackForums has killed off its “server stress test” DDoS-for-hire section.

Site admin Jesse LaBrocca posted the decision last Friday (here for registered members of the site), saying “recent events” forced the decision.

Brian Krebs quotes LaBrocca's post as saying “I’m personally disappointed that this is the path I have to take in order to protect the community.

“I loathe having to censor material that could be beneficial to members. But I need to make sure that we continue to exist and given the recent events I think it’s more important that the section be permanently shut down.”

The code first emerged being passed around the forums, until it was leaked to GitHub at the end of September.

LaBrocca, who goes by the handle “Omniscient” on HackForums, is apparently displeased by events since Mirai emerged, complaining that “the few ruin it for the many”.

Before making the decision, LaBrocca had already warned that Mirai would bring about a backlash.

Krebs notes that pulling the Server Stress Test is going to burn a hole in HackForums' income, since banner ads in the section ran to as much as US$200 a week, with a $60 premium to make the ads sticky. ®