Google disrupted a massive botnet that hackers used to steal information and mine cryptocurrency
Source: Washington Post
Google is suing two Russia-based individuals it alleges are behind a massive network of infected computers that have been used for crimes ranging from the theft of personal information to secretly mining bitcoin on the computers of unsuspecting hacking victims.
The company also worked with Internet infrastructure companies to take down servers used by hackers to control the network, effectively rendering the botnet of infected devices unable to receive new commands from their controllers, at least temporarily.
The move comes a day after Microsoft said it had taken down websites associated with what it believed was a China-based hacking group that stole personal information. Companies such as Microsoft and Google, which see huge swaths of the Internet pass through their systems each day, are increasingly investigating and trying to disrupt hackers, a practice that in the past has mostly been the domain of government law enforcement agencies.
The Glupteba botnet that Google targeted has been tracked by law enforcement and computer security experts for years. It works by tricking users into downloading malware onto their computers by masquerading as other kinds of software on dodgy free-download sites. Once on a computer, the malware hides itself and tries to spread to any connected devices, according to a 2020 report on Glupteba by cybersecurity firm SophosLabs.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/12/07/google-glupteba-botnet-hack/
I wonder if AWS was also attacked by this botnet?
OAITW r.2.0
(23,655 posts)To the greatest kleptocrat in our history, Vlad Putin. And franchising everywhere!
I figure Vlad's got an 80/20 arrangement with his International Hackforce of Disrupters and Extorters. They make a little bread, stay alive, and do what they love doing....fucking over everyone else in the world.
Tetrachloride
(7,701 posts)Quality ( precision) of tracking data is not as simple as rocket science.
ancianita
(35,711 posts)It's almost like OUR bad guys are the good guys who go after THEIR bad guys.
Hell, as a puny human I don't know what to think.
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)They are not that expensive either, considering. Anonymous eCurrency exists for a reason.
This was one in hundreds of dark bot nets. Some controlled by the good guys, some by the bad. Depends on your perspective.
AllaN01Bear
(17,065 posts)good on google .