DieNet emerged in early 2025 as one of the most active hacktivist groups leveraging high-volume DDoS-as-a-service ecosystems. According to open-source threat intelligence, the group has claimed responsibility for dozens of large-scale disruptions across transportation, public-sector platforms, and international infrastructure networks. Industry analyses indicate DieNet has repeatedly delivered traffic volumes exceeding 1 Tb/s, challenged protections such as Cloudflare, and collaborated within wider botnet communities. Their activity spans ideological operations, pressure-based targeting, and the exploitation of vulnerabilities — including attacks observed against U.S. and European sectors and multiple government portals.
Below is a direct account from DieNet’s designated point of contact, shared during a private exchange with Aamer Shah, cyber-security analyst and founder of CKURE.ORG.
A Conversation with DieNet: Who They Are and Why They Act
Origins and Formation
DieNet’s representative, Fidelio, opened the discussion by confirming their willingness to share information publicly:
“To make it brief, DieNet is a group of young people from all over the world. We were long-established in the community in general, and specifically in the DDoS and Botnet communities.”
According to Fidelio, the group had operated informally for years before formally positioning itself as a hacktivist collective. The turning point, they said, was geopolitical:
“We decided that we should start a hacktivist team to defend the causes that matter to us and to humanity in general. This decision came specifically after what happened in Palestine.”
The team — composed of students, parents, and long-time community members — framed their mission as opposition to perceived oppression and inequity, not personal or financial gain.
Motivation and Expansion
Fidelio emphasized that DieNet’s actions should not be interpreted through a criminal lens:
“We’re not criminals. Some of us are university students, some are married with children, and some are teenagers. We do this because our character prevents us from remaining silent in the face of injustice.”
Their initial operations focused on DDoS attacks, where the group had long-standing expertise. However, they claim to have evolved beyond volumetric floods:
“We started by attacking organizations that we believe oppress humanity… but then we decided to expand our tools and started using zero-day attacks, targeting all layers, SCADA, and so on.”
Technical Capability and Notable Operations
When asked about measurable successes, Fidelio provided several points:
1. Delivering >1 Tb/s Traffic
DieNet cites independently documented events where attack traffic exceeded 1 Tb/s:
“We were able to deliver over 1 TB/s of traffic… this is significant in the botnet world, and this is documented.”
This aligns with mitigation reports referencing large bursts attributed to their activity.
2. Bypassing Enterprise-Grade Defenses
The group claims to have circumvented multiple defensive layers:
- Cloudflare UAM
- CAPTCHA enforcement
- Browser-verification systems
“We were able to bypass protections like UAM, Cloudflare, and Captcha (sometimes). Recently we’ve been working on a browser-based attack method using sessions that appear genuine and are very difficult for any security to block.”
3. Zero-Day Exploitation
DieNet disclosed the discovery and use of zero-day vulnerabilities, including:
- WordPress plugin vulnerability
- Resulting remote code execution (RCE) through file upload
“It is patched after we published the attack, and it was RCE via file upload.”
They referenced using this attack chain against Israeli and Italian websites.
Failures, Adaptation, and an Iterative Strategy
DieNet acknowledged that not all attacks succeed:
“Failure is normal; we keep trying until we succeed. Even when Cloudflare updates its security measures, we update our attack methods, because our goal is continuous improvement.”
Their operational model appears to be adaptive, using constant iteration to maintain pressure on selected targets.
Conclusion
The exchange highlights a group positioning itself within the hacktivist sphere rather than as financially motivated operators. Their technical claims — high-bandwidth botnet control, ability to bypass hardened protections, and use of zero-day vulnerabilities — reflect an evolving threat profile consistent with observed activity attributed to DieNet in open-source reporting.
Regardless of perspective, DieNet’s rapid growth and increasingly sophisticated methods underscore a wider trend: the accessibility of impactful offensive capability to ideologically driven, globally distributed collectives.