Subj : "World largest botnet ever" shut down  US government seizes 911 S
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Thu May 30 2024 14:30:06

"World largest botnet ever" shut down  US government seizes 911 S5 operation 
and takes it offline

Date:
Thu, 30 May 2024 13:14:04 +0000

Description:
The botnet gave criminals a way to mask their online identities.

FULL STORY
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The US government and the government of Singapore has dismantled what has 
been called likely the worlds largest botnet ever and arrested its 
administrator. 

The 911 S5 botnet granted cybercriminals means to keep their identities 
hidden while running different schemes. 

The news was confirmed by FBI Director, Christopher Wray, who said working 
with our international partners, the FBI conducted a joint, sequenced cyber 
operation to dismantle the 911 S5 Botnetlikely the world's largest botnet 
ever...We arrested its administrator, Yunhe Wang, seized infrastructure and 
assets, and levied sanctions against Wang and his co-conspirators." Millions 
of unique IPs 

The news comes hours after it was reported that the US government had 
sanctioned three individuals and three companies for building and running 911 
S5. 

The individuals were named as Yunhe Wang, Jingping Liu, and Yanni Zheng, 
while the companies are called Spicy Code Company Limited, Tulip Biz Pattaya 
Group Company Limited, and Lily Suites Company Limited, all owned by Yunhe 
Wang and registered in Thailand. 

According to the US government, the group created a number of free VPN tools, 
which they offered to the general public. However, those that would install 
and use these tools would also get their devices infected with malware which 
would integrate the computers into the botnet. 

Then, the three would offer botnets services to various cybercriminals, who 
would use them to mask their online identities as they run different schemes. 
Among other things, the US government said the botnet was used to make bomb 
threats across the US, roughly two years ago. 

Allegedly, the botnet had more than 19 million unique IP addresses, 600,000 
of which were from the United States. 

"Wang [..] managed and controlled approximately 150 dedicated servers 
worldwide, approximately 76 of which he leased from U.S. based online service 
providers," the Justice Department said. "Using the dedicated servers, Wang 
deployed and managed applications, commanded and controlled the infected 
devices, operated his 911 S5 service, and provided paying customers with 
access to proxied IP addresses associated with the infected devices." 

Wang is suspected of making almost $100 million selling access to the botnet. 

Via BleepingComputer More from TechRadar Pro The Internet Archive is fighting 
a major battle against DDoS attacks Here's a list of the best firewalls today 
These are the best endpoint protection tools right now



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/world-largest-botnet-ever-shut-down-us-
government-seizes-911-s5-operation-and-takes-it-offline


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