WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department said Wednesday that it had seized an internet domain that directed a dangerous botnet of a half-million infected home and office network routers, controlled by hackers believed tied to Russian intelligence. The Justice Department said the "VPNFilter" botnet was set up by a hacking group variously called APT28, Pawn Storm, Sandworm, Fancy Bear and the Sofacy Group. "According to cybersecurity researchers, the Sofacy Group is a cyber-espionage group believed to have originated from Russia," the Department of Justice said in a court filing. In Wednesday's action, the Justice Department said it had obtained a warrant authorizing the FBI to seize a computer domain that is part of the command and control system of the VPNFilter botnet. In a report released in parallel to the Justice announcement, network equipment giant Cisco said VPNFilter had infected at least 500,000 devices in at least 54 countries.

Source: Bangkok Post May 24, 2018 02:15 UTC