Kimwolf DDoS Botnet Operator Arrested in Canada Over DDoS-for-Hire Attacks

Summary

A Canadian man was arrested for allegedly operating the Kimwolf DDoS botnet, a variant of AISURU that infected Android devices. The botnet was used in a cybercrime-as-a-service model to conduct DDoS attacks, including against Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN) IP addresses.

Full text

Kimwolf DDoS Botnet Operator Arrested in Canada Over DDoS-for-Hire Attacks Ravie LakshmananMay 22, 2026Cybercrime / Law Enforcement The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday announced the arrest of a Canadian man in connection with allegedly operating a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet known as Kimwolf. In tandem, Jacob Butler (aka Dort), 23, Ottawa, Canada, has been charged with offenses related to the development and operation of the botnet. Kimwolf is assessed to be a variant of AISURU that specifically infected Android devices with an exposed Android Debug Bridge (ADB) service. "Kimwolf targeted infected devices which were traditionally 'firewalled' from the rest of the internet, such as digital photo frames and web cameras," the DoJ said. "The infected devices were enslaved by the botnet operators." "The operators then used a 'cybercrime-as-a-service' model to sell access to the infected devices to other cybercriminals. The operators and their customers forced the victim devices to participate in DDoS attacks, targeting computers and servers located throughout the world, including Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN) IP addresses." Court documents show that Butler was linked to the administration of the Kimwolf botnet through IP address, online account information, and Discord message records posted by an account called resi[.]to. That Butler was behind the Kimwolf botnet was first exposed by independent security journalist Brian Krebs earlier this February. At that time, the defendant claimed that he had not used the "Dort" persona since 2021 and that some other party was impersonating him after compromising his old account. The charges come exactly two months after U.S. authorities, in partnership with Canada and Germany, disrupted the command-and-control (C2) infrastructure associated with Kimwolf, AISURU, JackSkid, and Mossad as part of a court-authorized law enforcement operation. Per the DoJ, Kimwolf is estimated to have issued over 25,000 attack commands. Prior to their takedown, the AISURU/Kimwolf botnets were attributed to some of the record-setting DDoS attacks to date, flooding targets with junk traffic that peaked at 31.4 Terabits per second (Tbps). Besides Butler's arrest, seizure warrants have been unsealed targeting online services supporting 45 DDoS-for-hire platforms, allowing law enforcement to dismantle them. One of the platforms is said to have collaborated with Kimwolf. Butler has been charged with one count of aiding and abetting computer intrusion. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Google News, Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE     Tweet Share Share Share SHARE  botnet, Cybercrime, cybersecurity, ddos, Internet of Things, Kimwolf, law enforcement ⚡ Top Stories This Week Claude Mythos AI Finds 10,000 High-Severity Flaws in Widely Used Software Megalodon GitHub Attack Targets 5,561 Repos with Malicious CI/CD Workflows ThreatsDay Bulletin: Linux Rootkits, Router 0-Day, AI Intrusions, Scam Kits and 25 New Stories Microsoft Warns of Two Actively Exploited Defender Vulnerabilities 9-Year-Old Linux Kernel Flaw Enables Root Command Execution on Major Distros GitHub Internal Repositories Breached via Malicious Nx Console VS Code Extension GitHub Breached — Employee Device Hack Led to Exfiltration of 3,800+ Internal Repos Microsoft Releases Mitigation for YellowKey BitLocker Bypass CVE-2026-45585 Exploit DirtyDecrypt PoC Released for Linux Kernel CVE-2026-31635 LPE Vulnerability ⚡ Weekly Recap: Exchange 0-Day, npm Worm, Fake AI Repo, Cisco Exploit and More Ivanti, Fortinet, SAP, VMware, n8n Patch RCE, SQL Injection, Privilege Escalation Flaws MiniPlasma Windows 0-Day Enables SYSTEM Privilege Escalation on Fully Patched Systems NGINX CVE-2026-42945 Exploited in the Wild, Causing Worker Crashes and Possible RCE Making Vulnerable Drivers Exploitable Without Hardware - The BYOVD Perspective The New Phishing Click: How OAuth Consent Bypasses MFA Developer Workstations Are Now Part of the Software Supply Chain ⭐ Featured Resources Claim ANY.RUN Anniversary Offer for Faster Malware Analysis [Guide] Learn to Detect AI Typosquatting Risks in Your Domain [Guide] Get Key Identity Security Insights From 2026 Snapshot Discover How to Navigate the Era of Constant Cyber Exposure

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