Elon Musk’s ‘Huge Balls’ Doge Staffer Report...

The 19-year-old DOGE staffer known as “Big Balls” on-line, whose grandfather was a KGB spy, reportedly ran tech help for a cybercrime ring earlier than taking his job in Washington.

Huge Balls’ actual identify is Edward Coristine and, according to Reuters, he ran an organization known as DiamondCDN in 2022 whereas he was nonetheless in highschool. DiamondCDN’s web site is now defunct, however the Web Archive has a copy. The service purported to guard purchasers from Distributed Denial of Service assaults and claimed to have a “close to on the spot response” when such assaults occurred.

Wired and Krebs on Safety had beforehand reported on Coristine’s connection to DiamondCDN, however Reuters has extra particulars. One in every of DiamondCDN’s purchasers was a cybercrime ring known as EGodly. On Telegram, EGodly bragged about cryptocurrency theft, hijacking cellphone numbers, and doxxing an FBI agent. It even made prank cellphone calls to the FBI agent and posted audio of it on Telegram.

In one other put up on Telegram, EGodly thanked Coristine’s DiamondCDN for its providers. “We lengthen our gratitude to our valued companions DiamondCDN for generously offering us with their superb DDoS safety and caching methods, which permit us to securely host and safeguard our web site,” EGodly stated in a put up on Telegram, in line with Reuters.

Coristine had beforehand been linked to “The Com” by Krebs on Security. The Com is a nebulous label for a disorganized and decentralized digital youth felony motion that organizes on Discord and Telegram. The Com isn’t one particular group, it’s extra of a cultural movement.

Reuters didn’t explicitly hyperlink EGodly and DiamondCDN to The Com, however the actions described match earlier reporting about how they function. EGodly allegedly posted a video shot from inside a automobile of somebody driving by the FBI agent’s home whereas screaming “EGodly says you’re a bitch” out of the window. On this planet of The Com, contributors are likely to commit digital crimes after which brag about them in Discord and Telegram teams. Doxxing enemies and making obscene cellphone calls are frequent.

Krebs on Safety and Wired have each written about DiamondCDN and its connection to the web felony underground earlier than. When Coristine was 16, he based an organization known as Tesla.Attractive LLC which controls dozens of internet domains, together with some which are registered in Russia. The hyperlinks between Coristine and recognized felony gangs are quite a few and complex. The Reuters story simply particulars the newest one.

Com-related violence isn’t restricted to verbal and digital harassment. 404 Media has reported about how members of The Com film themselves attacking the properties of rivals. Generally it’s so simple as throwing a brick by a window, however different instances they’ve shot at buildings with handguns.

To be clear, Edward “Huge Balls” Coristine has not been accused of road violence. However he does have a number of connections with the tradition, communities, and corporations who take part in digital crime and commit road violence.

Elon Musk defended Coristine in a put up on X final month. “Huge Balls is superior 😎,” he stated.