{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]],"date-time":"2025-09-11T11:31:25Z","timestamp":1757590285592,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"01","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,13]],"date-time":"2017-03-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1489363200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JICES"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,13]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This paper aims to examine whether there are morally defensible reasons for using or operating websites (called \u2018booters\u2019) that offer distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on a specified target to users for a price. Booters have been linked to some of the most powerful DDoS attacks in recent years.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The authors identify the various parties associated with booter websites and the means through which booters operate. Then, the authors present and evaluate the two arguments that they claim may be used to justify operating and using booters: that they are a useful tool for testing the ability of networks and servers to handle heavy traffic, and that they may be used to perform DDoS attacks as a form of civil disobedience on the internet.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The authors argue that the characteristics of existing booters disqualify them from being morally justified as network stress testing tools or as a means of performing civil disobedience. The use of botnets that include systems without the permission of their owners undermines the legitimacy of both justifications. While a booter that does not use any third-party systems without permission might in principle be justified under certain conditions, the authors argue that it is unlikely that any existing booters meet these requirements.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Practical\/implications<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Law enforcement agencies may use the arguments presented here to justify shutting down the operation of booters, and so reduce the number of DDoS attacks on the internet.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The value of this work is in critically examining the potential justifications for using and operating booter websites and in further exploring the ethical aspects of using DDoS attacks as a form of civil disobedience.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/jices-09-2016-0033","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,28]],"date-time":"2017-03-28T04:09:15Z","timestamp":1490674155000},"page":"90-104","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Booters: can anything justify distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks for hire?"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"David","family":"Douglas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Jos\u00e9 Jair","family":"Santanna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Ricardo","family":"de Oliveira Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Lisandro Zambenedetti","family":"Granville","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Aiko","family":"Pras","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"volume-title":"Crises of the Republic: Lying in Politics, Civil Disobedience on Violence, Thoughts on Politics, and Revolution","year":"1972","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref001"},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref002","unstructured":"Akamai (2016), \u201cAkamai\u2019s state of the internet: security\u201d, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 8-12, available at: www.akamai.com\/uk\/en\/multimedia\/documents\/state-of-the-internet\/akamai-state-of-the-internet-report-q1-2016.pdf (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref003","article-title":"Mill\u2019s moral and political philosophy","volume-title":"The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy","year":"2014","edition":"(Fall 2014 Edit"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"337","DOI":"10.1007\/s11158-004-2326-6","article-title":"Features of a paradigm case of civil disobedience","volume":"10","year":"2004","journal-title":"Res Publica"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1007\/s11572-006-9015-9","article-title":"The communicative aspects of civil disobedience and lawful punishment","volume":"1","year":"2007","journal-title":"Criminal Law and Philosophy"},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref030","unstructured":"Brownlee, K. (2016), \u201cCivil disobedience\u201d, in Zalta, E.N. (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016 Edition), available at: http:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/archives\/spr2016\/entries\/civil-disobedience\/ (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"issue":"5","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"326","DOI":"10.1108\/14636690410564834","article-title":"Virtual nonviolence? Civil disobedience and political violence in the information age","volume":"6","year":"2004","journal-title":"Info"},{"volume-title":"Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous","year":"2014","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref007"},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref008","unstructured":"DJNZ, and Action Tool Development Group of the Electrohippies Collective (2000), \u201cElectrohippies occasional paper no. 1: client-side distributed denial-of-service: valid campaign tactic or terrorist act?\u201d, available at: www.iwar.org.uk\/hackers\/resources\/electrohippies-collective\/op1.pdf (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"edition":"3rd ed","volume-title":"Practical UNIX and Internet Security","year":"2003","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref009"},{"volume-title":"Information Politics: Liberation and Exploitation in the Digital Society","year":"2015","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref010"},{"article-title":"Understanding the emerging threat of DDoS-as-a-service","volume-title":"6th USENIX Workshop on Large-Scale Exploits and Emergent Threats (LEET)","year":"2013","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref011"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"75","DOI":"10.1108\/14779960480000244","article-title":"Civil disobedience online","volume":"2","year":"2004","journal-title":"Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society"},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref013","unstructured":"Kostadinov, D. (2013), \u201cLegality of DDoS: criminal deed vs. act of civil disobedience\u201d, InfoSec Institute, available at: http:\/\/resources.infosecinstitute.com\/legality-ddos-criminal-deed-vs-act-civil-disobedience\/ (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref014","unstructured":"Krebs, B. (2013a), \u201cThe obscurest epoch is today\u201d, Krebs on Security, available at: http:\/\/krebsonsecurity.com\/2013\/03\/the-obscurest-epoch-is-today\/ (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref015","unstructured":"Krebs, B. (2013b), \u201cDDoS services advertise openly, take paypal\u201d, Krebs on Security, available at: http:\/\/krebsonsecurity.com\/2013\/05\/ddos-services-advertise-openly-take-paypal\/ (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref016","unstructured":"Krebs, B. (2014), \u201cLizard kids: a long trail of fail\u201d, Krebs on Security, available at: http:\/\/krebsonsecurity.com\/2014\/12\/lizard-kids-a-long-trail-of-fail\/ (available 4 September 2016)."},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref017","unstructured":"Krebs, B. (2015b), \u201cSpreading the disease and selling the cure\u201d, Krebs on Security, available at: http:\/\/krebsonsecurity.com\/2015\/01\/spreading-the-disease-and-selling-the-cure\/ (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"volume-title":"Civil Disobedience: Protest, Justification, and the Law","year":"2013","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref018"},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref019","unstructured":"Morozov, E. (2010), \u201cIn defense of DDoS\u201d, Slate, available at: www.slate.com\/articles\/technology\/technology\/2010\/12\/in_defense_of_ddos.html (accessed 18 October 2016)."},{"edition":"1st ed.","volume-title":"A Theory of Justice","year":"1971","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref020"},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref021","unstructured":"Ruffin, O. (2000), \u201cHacktivismo\u201d, Cult of the Dead Cow, available at: http:\/\/w3.cultdeadcow.com\/cms\/2000\/07\/hacktivismo.html (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"first-page":"432","article-title":"Inside booters: an analysis on operational databases","year":"2015","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref022"},{"volume-title":"The Coming Swarm: DDoS Actions, Hacktivism, and Civil Disobedience on the Internet","year":"2014","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref023"},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref024","unstructured":"Turton, W. (2015), \u201cLizard squad\u2019s Xbox live, PSN attacks were a \u2018marketing scheme\u2019 for new DDoS service\u201d, The Daily Dot, available at: www.dailydot.com\/crime\/lizard-squad-lizard-stresser-ddos-service-psn-xbox-live-sony-microsoft\/ (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"key":"key2020120821064179400_ref025","unstructured":"Krebs, B. (2015a), \u201cLizard stresser runs on hacked home routers\u201d, Krebs on Security, available at: http:\/\/krebsonsecurity.com\/2015\/01\/lizard-stresser-runs-on-hacked-home-routers\/ (accessed 4 September 2016)."},{"volume-title":"The Net Delusion: How Not to Liberate the World","year":"2011","key":"key2020120821064179400_ref026"}],"container-title":["Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/JICES-09-2016-0033\/full\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/JICES-09-2016-0033\/full\/html","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T21:38:42Z","timestamp":1753393122000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emerald.com\/jices\/article\/15\/01\/90-104\/209537"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,13]]},"references-count":27,"journal-issue":{"issue":"01","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,13]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1108\/JICES-09-2016-0033"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/jices-09-2016-0033","relation":{},"ISSN":["1477-996X"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"1477-996X"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,13]]}}}