US disrupts global botnet operation linked to more than 3 million infected devices
The Chronify
US authorities said they joined coordinated action with Germany and Canada to disrupt infrastructure used by four major botnets that infected more than 3 million devices worldwide, including hundreds of thousands in the United States. The operation targeted the Aisuru, KimWolf, JackSkid and Mossad botnets, which prosecutors said were used to launch massive distributed denial of service attacks against victims around the world.
Federal prosecutors said most of the compromised devices were internet connected products such as webcams, digital video recorders and Wi Fi routers. Court documents said the infected devices were used in a cybercrime as a service model, with operators selling access to other criminals who then launched hundreds of thousands of attacks against computers and servers, including targets linked to the Department of Defense Information Network. In some cases, victims were also hit with extortion demands.
Authorities said the four botnets were behind some of the largest attacks on record. Court documents cited in the case said Aisuru issued more than 200,000 DDoS attack commands, KimWolf more than 25,000, JackSkid more than 90,000 and Mossad more than 1,000. Officials also said some of the attacks reached roughly 30 terabits per second, placing them among the largest ever reported.
The US side of the operation involved court approved seizures of internet domains, virtual servers and other command infrastructure allegedly used in the attacks. At the same time, authorities in Canada and Germany carried out their own actions targeting people believed to be behind the botnets. No US arrests were announced with the disruption.
Officials said the takedown was backed by a large coalition of private sector and law enforcement partners, including major cloud, network and payments companies, as well as Europol’s PowerOFF team. The action is intended to cut communications between infected devices and botnet operators, reduce the risk of new infections, and limit the networks’ ability to launch future attacks.
Authorities said the four botnets were behind some of the largest attacks on record. Court documents cited in the case said Aisuru issued more than 200,000 DDoS attack commands, KimWolf more than 25,000, JackSkid more than 90,000 and Mossad more than 1,000. Officials also said some of the attacks reached roughly 30 terabits per second, placing them among the largest ever reported.
The US side of the operation involved court approved seizures of internet domains, virtual servers and other command infrastructure allegedly used in the attacks. At the same time, authorities in Canada and Germany carried out their own actions targeting people believed to be behind the botnets. No US arrests were announced with the disruption.
Officials said the takedown was backed by a large coalition of private sector and law enforcement partners, including major cloud, network and payments companies, as well as Europol’s PowerOFF team. The action is intended to cut communications between infected devices and botnet operators, reduce the risk of new infections, and limit the networks’ ability to launch future attacks.
Related News
📚 Categories
You may like
