WASHINGTON — Microsoft organized 35 nations on Tuesday to take down one of the world’s largest botnets — malware that secretly seizes control of millions of computers around the globe. It was an unusual disruption of an internet criminal group, because it was carried out by a company, not a government. The action, eight years in the making, was aimed at a criminal group called Necurs, believed to be based in Russia. Microsoft employees had long tracked the group as it infected nine million computers around the world, hijacking them to send spam emails intended to defraud unsuspecting victims. “It’s a highway out there that is used only by criminals,” Amy Hogan-Burney, the general manager of the Digital Crimes Unit and a former F.B.I.

Source: New York Times March 11, 2020 00:11 UTC