Whirlpool attackers escape charge

The perpetrators behind distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against broadband website Whirlpool have been let off the hook as a "sign of good will".

Innocence/Guilt image, by (fyrfli, CC BY-ND 2.0)

The website was targeted in June by a massive DDoS attack for reasons that remained a mystery.

Immediately after the attacks, Modesto had told reporters the IP addresses linking offenders to the crime would be sent to police.

Yet while Whirlpool's hosting provider, BulletProof Networks, had collected a smoking gun in the form of the IP addresses, it decided not to prosecute, because its chief operating officer Lorenzo Modesto sees DDoS as more a protest than a crime.

"Bulletproof had a very good start on the forensics required to prosecute with the Whirlpool incident, but decided not to as a show of good will," Modesto said.

"Based on recent events, we would have to agree that DDoS is emerging as a form of protest and that it will sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to mission critical hosting providers."

Bulletproof Networks had upstream providers cut off the DDoS attacks using the offending IP addresses.

Not everyone gets off lightly

Melbourne student Stephen Slayo was less fortunate after he and thousands more launched a DDoS attack against government websites in September last year.

Slayo was dragged into Melbourne's Magistrate's Court last week because the Australian Federal Police were monitoring Internet Relay Chat discussions about impending attacks. The Department of Defence was also called in to investigate.

Police are keeping mum on whether it will arrest more perpetrators over the attacks.

"… If the prosecutors have the skills, resources and motivation, the forensics can be traced back a number of different ways and through each of the compromised servers," Modesto said.