The U.S Department of Justice has recently captured Yunhe Wang, a Chinese national, involved in a major botnet crime that led to losses of over $130 million. Wang allegedly seized control over 19.5 million private IP addresses through the 911 S5 botnet, distributed the malware and sold it to global criminals.
The Botnet Operation
This paper will focus on the cybercrime activities of Wang from the year 2014 to 2023 where Wang allegedly developed and released malware that infected millions of home computer systems with the windows operating system. This is a huge botnet, which is known as 911 S5; it stole an IP address by pretending to provide a free VPN service. Consumers thought they were getting an effective way to shield their online traffic and identities from prying eyes, but Wang was able to manipulate the user’s IP addresses through a backdoor in the VPN service.
The Impact
The IP addresses that were compromised were used to perpetrate different crimes including; financial fraud, identity theft, child exploitation, harassment and threats, bomb threats and export violations. The DOJ also found that 911 S5 customers focused on exploiting the pandemic relief programs, where over 560,000 unemployment claims for COVID relief were linked to these hijacked IP addresses that resulted in confirmed losses of over $5. 9 billion.
To combat the botnet, law enforcement authorities from the USA, Singapore, Thailand, and Germany simultaneously arrested the botnet’s infrastructure and confiscated 23 domains and 70 servers. Moreover, $30 million worth of assets connected with the operation was seized by the authorities.
Bottom Line
This is a very scary case of botnets in the cybercrime and emphasize the need for collaboration between different countries in order to address the threats posed by such networks. It also captures how these criminals manipulate people’s trust and technology to stage wide-scale fraud and other vices.
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Riz-A is a seasoned blockchain content writer with a passion for demystifying complex concepts and making cutting-edge technology accessible to a broader audience. With years of experience in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, Riz-A has a proven track record of creating engaging, informative, and thought-provoking content.
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