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Ten-Year-Old, 2 Million PC Botnet Finally Killed; Stole up to $100M USD
Posted on: 2011-04-14 14:46:04 Complaint has been issued against 13 foreign nationals, but there's no promises they won't get away with the loot By Jason Mick @ DailyTech It took ten years, but the U.S. finally has killed [press release and court documents] a notorious botnet spread by an ever-evolving virus known as "Coreflood". The botnet had been active since 2001, slowly building up an arsenal of 2 million computers worldwide, with the help of helper malware. It is responsible for stealing an estimated $100M USD worldwide from businesses and individuals. A botnet is a group of infected machines that can be coordinated to steal information from the users of the machines. They can also be controlled to send malicious files, spam, phishing emails, or other unsavory contents. The creators of Coreflood took special care in honing their attack package. What began as a trojan received over 100 updates, eventually gaining viral characteristics and the ability to steal passwords and credit card information. Read more... |