Overview

• Ethan Foltz, 22, of Eugene, Oregon, was charged in the District of Alaska with aiding and abetting computer intrusions as the alleged administrator of Rapper Bot, and he faces up to 10 years if convicted.
• DCIS agents executed an August 6 search, seized administrative control of the botnet, and private-sector partners report no further Rapper Bot attacks since.
• From April to early August 2025, officials attribute roughly 370,000 DDoS attacks against about 18,000 targets in more than 80 countries, including a U.S. government network, U.S. tech firms and a popular social media platform.
• The Mirai-derived network leveraged 65,000–95,000 compromised DVRs and routers to deliver 2–3 Tbps floods with a peak possibly above 6 Tbps, and some customers allegedly used it to extort victims.
• Investigators tied control to Foltz via PayPal, Gmail and ISP records and say he admitted in a recorded interview to being the primary administrator, identifying a partner known as “SlayKings.”