The so-called botnet of infected devices, which was also
used to surreptitiously mine Bitcoin, was cut off at least for now from the
people wielding it on the Internet.
"The operators of Glupteba are likely to attempt to
regain control of the botnet using a backup command and control
mechanism," wrote Shane Huntley and Luca Nagy from Google's threat
analysis group.
Large technology companies like Google and Microsoft are
increasingly pulled into the battle against cybercrime, which is conducted via
their products thus giving them unique understanding of and access to the
threats.
Google said the network includes about one million
Windows-using devices worldwide for crimes that include stealing users'
credentials, and has targeted victims from the United States, India, Brazil and
southeast Asia.
The company also filed a lawsuit in a New York federal court
against Dmitry Starovikov and Alexander Filippov seeking an injunction to block
them from wrongdoing on its platforms.
Cybersecurity experts first noticed Glupteba in 2011, which
spreads by masquerading as free, downloadable software, videos or movies that
people unwittingly download onto their devices.
However, unlike conventional botnets that rely on predetermined
channels to ensure their survival, Glupteba is programmed to find a replacement
server in order to keep operating even after being attacked, says Google's
lawsuit.
Because the botnet Web combines the power of some one
million devices it possesses unusual power that could be used for large-scale
ransomware or other attacks.
To maintain that network, the organisation "uses Google
advertisements to post job openings for the websites" carrying out the
illegal work.
The hackers also used Google's own services to distribute
the malware — the Internet giant took down some 63 million Google Docs and
terminated over 1,100 Google accounts used to spread Glupteba.
The botnets can "recover more quickly from disruptions,
making them that much harder to shutdown. We are working closely with industry
and government as we combat this type of behaviour," Google said in a blogpost.
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