A Texas man has been given a nine-month federal prison sentence for running a website that enabled users to carry out powerful distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
These attacks overwhelmed tens of thousands of computers with data, effectively blocking their internet access.
Scott Raul Esparza, 24, of Katy, Texas, was sentenced by United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, who also imposed two years of supervised release with conditions including a full computer monitoring program after Esparza serves his prison sentence.
Esparza admitted guilt on March 6 for conspiring to impair a protected computer and for unauthorized impairment of a protected computer.
Esparza and Shamar Shattock, a resident of Margate, Florida, collaborated on a DDoS-for-hire service called “Astrostress.com” from 2019 to September 2022.
A DDoS attack is a cyberattack where numerous computers try to connect to a target all at once, causing it to become overwhelmed and unable to function properly.
Astrostress.com operated as a “booter” service, known for its capability to forcefully remove individuals from the internet.
Customers have the option to choose from different subscription levels, depending on the number and power of attacks they want to carry out.
This service allows users from all over the world to easily create accounts and launch attacks on internet-connected computers around the globe.
Esparza's role involved acquiring attack servers and ensuring the website's attack capabilities were maintained.
He also helped with marketing the service and brought in someone to handle customer support requests.
It should be noted that Esparza did not have ownership or authorization to use the third-party computers he utilized to carry out attacks on Astrostress.com.
He was aware that his customers were utilizing the site to engage in unauthorized computer attacks.
Esparza personally carried out numerous attacks using his own service. Between September 2021 and September 2022, numerous customers utilized Astrostress.com to target a large number of secure computers, causing disruptions or attempting to disrupt their accessibility by taking them offline.
In September 2022, right after the FBI closed down Astrostress.com, Esparza left a voicemail for Shattock, advising him to delete all his social media accounts to avoid any potential connections to us.
Shattock admitted his guilt in March 2023 for a felony conspiracy charge and is now awaiting sentencing, which is anticipated to take place in the near future. If convicted, he could potentially be sentenced to up to five years in federal prison.
This case was investigated by the FBI as part of Operation PowerOFF, which was a multinational effort aimed at combating DDoS-for-hire services.