911 S5 (botnet)

2024: Botnet Destruction

In a coordinated international law enforcement operation, the 911 S5 botnet, considered one of the largest in the world, was neutralized. This was announced by the US Department of Justice at the end of May 2024.

According to the department, more than 19 million IP addresses were involved in this botnet, including 613 thousand addresses located in the United States.

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According to the Ministry of Justice, USA a citizen was arrested, China Saint Kitts and Nevis Yunhe Wang, who is accused of creating and managing malware ON to form this botnet. From 2014 to 2022, Wang and his associates distributed malware, infecting more devices around the world during that time, according to the indictment.

The 911 S5 botnet infected computers in almost 200 countries and contributed to a number of computer crimes, including financial fraud, identity theft and child exploitation, said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

He also added that Wang offered cybercriminals access to these compromised IP addresses for a fee. The attackers used these addresses to hide their real locations and commit illegal actions, including financial fraud, bomb threats, violations of export laws and the distribution of materials with child exploitation.

As Ray noted, as a result of the operation, in addition to the arrest of Wang, significant damage was caused to the botnet infrastructure - assets worth about $30 million were seized and domains and servers through which 911 S5 functioned were arrested. In addition, Wang's property worth another $30 million was confiscated.^[1]

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