FBI Take Down Botnet

As part of an ongoing CyberCrime initiative, the FBI have managed to disrupt and dismantle a botnet that had over one million IP addresses subscribed to it.

A botnet is a collection of compromised computers under the remote command and control of a criminal “botherder.” Most owners of the compromised computers are unknowing and unwitting victims. They have unintentionally allowed unauthorized access and use of their computers as a vehicle to facilitate other crimes, such as identity theft, denial of service attacks, phishing, click fraud, and the mass distribution of spam and spyware. Because of their widely distributed capabilities, botnets are a growing threat to national security, the national information infrastructure, and the economy.

The majority of victims will not even be aware that their computers have been compromised, their personal information stolen and thier computers controlled remotely and used for possible criminal activities.

The FBI are currently trying to contact the victim owners of these computers. However they stress that they will not try to contact anyone online or ask for personal information. So please be wary if you recieve any unsolicited emails.

See the full FBI press release here with contact details if you suspect you have recieved a fraudulent communication about this matter.