Is it Illegal to DDOS Attack a Website? (2024)

FAQs

Is it Illegal to DDOS Attack a Website? ›

DDoSing is an Illegal cybercrime in the United States. A DDoS attack could be classified as a federal criminal offense under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

The Law. DDoS attacks are illegal. According to the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, an unauthorized DDoS attack can lead to up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Conspiring to do so can lead to 5 years and $250,000.

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a massive assault on a system to degrade its performance. The attacker hopes to make it unavailable to its intended users (thus inflicting a “denial of service”), and uses distributed resources to make it more difficult to detect and mitigate.

As soon as you notice a DDoS attack, gather as much information as you can and report it to your internet provider or web host. If you lost money because of the attack, you should also file a complaint with a government internet crime agency.

DDoS attacks are difficult to trace because most of them are distributed over hundreds and thousands of other devices.

A Distributed Denial-of-Service Attack is a crime in which the perpetrator floods an online server with internet traffic to prevent users from accessing connected services and sites. Distributed Denial of Service attacks: are illegal.

Does changing your IP stop DDoS attacks? No, if you are already under a DDoS attack, resetting your IP address won't help much.

A DDoS attack can last anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days. One attack might last four hours, while another might last a week (or longer). DDoS attacks can also happen once or repeatedly over a period of time and consist of more than one type of cyberattack.

A DoS or DDoS attack is analogous to a group of people crowding the entry door of a shop, making it hard for legitimate customers to enter, thus disrupting trade and losing the business money.

They can carry out a DDoS attack by spamming your website with data packets from multiple sources, resulting in problems such as data loss, slow page load times, downtime, loss of research rankings, reputation damage and increased web hosting costs.

Is a DDoS attack a felony? ›

If you conduct a DDoS attack, or make, supply or obtain stresser or booter services, you could receive a prison sentence, a fine or both.

If you were threatened with or have been the target of a DDoS attack, contact your local authorities. This type of cyber attack is a criminal violation and must be investigated by local police.

Unless you have permission from everyone whose computer you use, creating a botnet is illegal. The tasks that most hackers use botnets for—like DDoS attacks—are also illegal on their own.

Tracing the source of a DDoS attack typically involves analyzing network traffic, logs, and other data to identify the origin of the attack. However, DDoS attacks often involve a large number of compromised devices or servers (a botnet), making it difficult to pinpoint a single attacker.

In other words, booters are the illegitimate use of IP stressers. Illegal IP stressers often obscure the identity of the attacking server by use of proxy servers. The proxy reroutes the attacker's connection while masking the IP address of the attacker.

The FBI is the lead federal agency for investigating cyber attacks and intrusions. We collect and share intelligence and engage with victims while working to unmask those committing malicious cyber activities, wherever they are.

Laws and Penalties for DDoS Attacks:

In the United States, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is the primary law that deals with cybercrime, including DDoS attacks. Under the CFAA, a person found guilty of DDoS attacks can face fines and imprisonment for up to 10 years.

Money, time, clients and even reputation can be lost in the event of a DDoS attack. Depending on the severity of an attack, resources could be offline for 24 hours, multiple days or even a week.

If you experience a DoS or DDoS attack, you probably won't be able to connect to the network from your device, and all internet connectivity in your household will be down. However, network connectivity issues don't always mean that your IP address and device were targeted.