throw9999away

Yes we went through a bit of procedure to establish that. They have also been in touch with the authorities in our jurisdiction since.

In fact we were contacted by multiple police authorities from different regions.

I run a service which was recently DDOS'd. It came immediately after a request from the police services in India to give them data on a specific user. They claimed it was terrorism related. We explained our policy on that (there is a procedure but it requires lengthy legal formalities in our jurisdiction). Within hours our service was taken down. It lasted about 12 hours. We never received any ransom request. We were left with 3 possibilities:

1. Indian police/government

2. Original user

3. Total coincidence

When it happens you just realize: this should not be possible. This is a game that hugely benefits the most powerful players whether they just don't bother solving the problem or actively play in it.