Targeted messaging campaigns by law enforcement can help dissuade young gamers from participating in cybercrime activities, a study has suggested.

Co-authored by researchers at the University of Strathclyde, the study examined different types of interventions for cybercrime and evaluated the effectiveness of law enforcement interventions.

Researchers found that the publicised arrest and sentencing of cybercriminals only led to a small decrease in the number of cyber-attacks taking place. Conversely, high-profile takedowns of infrastructure and messaging campaigns, such as pop-up ads, led to a longer-term reduction in attacks.

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Increasingly, individuals are able to engage in cybercrime activities through the use of ‘booter’ service websites, where a user can purchase targeted Denial of Service (DOS) attacks. These particular attacks flood end-users or web services with large volumes of traffic to take them offline.

DoS attacks have grown in frequency due to the relative ease of using them, as well as the growing availability of booter services online. More and more, they are being used by gamers to target others as a form of retaliation.

Dr Daniel Thomas of Strathclyde’s Department of Computer and Information Services, a co-author of the study, commented: “Booter service websites are an easy and inexpensive route into cybercrime, as they offer the means to attack other users’ systems.

“Tens of thousands of attacks are carried out through booter providers every day. Booting is not a well-regarded practice but this makes the market particularly vulnerable to disruption.”

In January this year, a joint operation between Europol and the National Crime Agency (NCA) took down the illegal marketplace webstresser.org, which offered DoS-for-hire services to thousands of users across Europe. At the time, the NCA said that “stresser and booter services have effectively lowered the entry barrier into cybercrime”.

Researchers drew from two datasets on DoS attacks from booter sites, then examined how the data correlated with different intervention tactics used by the NCA, FBI and a host of other international law enforcement agencies.

Although operating a booter service or accessing DoS for hire services is illegal in many countries, earlier research showed that most operators of these services were “unconcerned” about potential police action. Arrests often only had a short-term effect on the volume of DoS attacks, researchers found. Afterwards, activity went back to normal.

Sentencing also had no “widespread effect” on users or providers. However, taking down infrastructure had a more noticeable effect and limited booter market operations for lengthy periods.

“The study also found that, from late December 2017 to June 2018, the NCA bought targeted Google adverts aimed at young men in the UK, ” researchers said.

When users searched for booter services, targeted ads popped up highlighting that DoS attacks are illegal. Researchers said that, as a means of targeting potential attackers, these pop-up ads could prove to be a highly effective method for law enforcement agencies.

These particular forms of targeting have already had an impact, researchers added, with the FBI and NCA already having used this research to inform strategies for dealing with booter services.