CrowdStrike began a public takedown of the Sality botnet at its Day Zero security conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, in the latest attempt to neutralise the robust, two-decade-old threat network believed to operate out of Russia.
The company said it worked with the FBI and the Department of Justice, which in turn said they cooperated with European law enforcement and other organisations on the takedown.
The botnet operates out of devices such as routers that have been taken over, with criminals using the network to send spam, carry out denial-of-service attacks, and steal cryptocurrency.
‘Clear and present danger’
“Cybercriminals, botnets, and malware are a clear and present danger to our nation’s security and economy,” said first assistant United States attorney Bill Essayli in a statement.
