The FBI recently led a coordinated operation that resulted in the dismantling of the largest ‘botnet’ ever identified, known as 911 S5. This ‘botnet’, which infected millions of Windows computers worldwide using fraudulent VPN applications and pay-per-install services, affected more than 19 million unique IP addresses across 200 countries over the span of eight years.
The operation was a significant achievement for the FBI in their efforts to combat cybercrime. It resulted in the arrest of a Chinese citizen who was identified as the administrator of the ‘botnet’. This individual managed approximately 150 servers globally to control the infected computers and provided paying customers with access to proxy IP addresses from the infected devices to mask their identities in committing crimes such as financial fraud, identity theft, and child exploitation.
Several law enforcement agencies from the United States, Singapore, Thailand, and Germany collaborated in this operation to bring down the largest ‘botnet’ in the world. The successful dismantling of this network highlights the importance of international cooperation in combating cyber threats.
