Hacker 'command' servers seized in US: Microsoft

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Monday said that cyber crime "command" servers in two US states were seized in an ongoing campaign to sever online crooks from infected computers used as virtual henchmen. The software colossus capitalized on laws crafted to fight organized crime groups to obtain court orders to seize servers in Pennsylvania and Illinois being used to control computers corrupted by malicious code. Viruses slipped into people's computers stole online bank account and password information and relayed it to crooks who have looted more than $100 million in the past five years, according to court documents. The "worldwide, illegal" computer networks were an amalgam of more than 13 million infected machines referred to as "Zeus botnets" due to the type of malicious code involved. Zeus malware is designed to log keystrokes typed on computers, watching for patterns that indicate information about online bank accounts. "A number of the most harmful botnets using the Zeus family of malware worldwide have been disrupted in an unprecedented, proactive cross-industry operation against this cybercriminal organization," Microsoft digital crimes unit senior attorney Richard Boscovich said in a blog post. The seizure of "command and control" servers by Microsoft employees escorted by police on Friday was the latest move by the industry to cut elusive cyber criminals off from infected computers used to do their bidding. Microsoft six months ago took down a "botnet" believed to have been used for nefarious activities including spam, stock scams, and sexual exploitation of children, and sued the owner of an online domain used to control operations. The disrupted "Kelihos" network was an apparent reincarnation of the first botnet Microsoft took down with a combination of legal and technical tactics. A year ago, Microsoft dismantled a "notorious and complex" network of virus-infected computers used to send billions of email messages daily hawking fake drugs. That Rustock "botnet" consisted of about a million computers that were infected with malicious code to let hackers covertly control the machines from afar using "command and control" servers. Owners of infected computers are typically not aware that hackers are using their devices. Cutting hackers off from online servers that act as intermediaries, collecting data from and giving orders to armies of infected "zombie" computers, is a creative new tactic in the war on cyber crime. The raids on office buildings in Pennsylvania and Illinois on Friday involved federal court warrants obtained under different laws, including a racketeering act designed to fight the Mafia. Microsoft has teamed up with industry allies and law enforcement agencies to destroy spam or crime spewing botnets to defend the reputation and reliability of the software on which the US technology company's fortune is based. Microsoft six months ago took down a "botnet" believed to have been used for nefarious activities including spam, stock scams, and sexual exploitation of children, and sued the owner of an online domain used to control operations. The disrupted "Kelihos" network was an apparent reincarnation of the first botnet Microsoft took down with a combination of legal and technical tactics.