Recently, a US court has unsealed a restraining order against a gang of alleged cybercrooks based outside of the country. The restraining order is based on a formal legal complaint from internet giant Google. The CryptBot crew, whom Google claimed were ripping off Google product names, icons, and trademarks to shill their rogue software distribution services, running “pay-per-install” services for alleged software bundles that deliberately injected malware onto victims’ computers, and operating a botnet (a robot or zombie network) to steal, collect, and collate personal data from hundreds of thousands of victims in the US. The court authorized Google to identify network providers whose services directly or indirectly make this criminality possible and to request that those persons and entities take reasonable best efforts to stop the malware and the data theft in its tracks. The court also demanded that the criminals stop committing crimes, including no longer distributing malware, running a botnet, stealing victims’ data, and selling that stolen data on to other crooks.
Key Points:
• A US court has recently unsealed a restraining order against a gang of alleged cybercrooks based outside of the country.
• The restraining order is based on a formal legal complaint from internet giant Google.
• The CryptBot crew, whom Google claimed were committing various crimes, including ripping off Google product names, icons, and trademarks to shill their rogue software distribution services, running “pay-per-install” services for alleged software bundles that deliberately injected malware onto victims’ computers, and operating a botnet (a robot or zombie network) to steal, collect, and collate personal data from hundreds of thousands of victims in the US.
• The court authorized Google to identify network providers whose services directly or indirectly make this criminality possible and to request that those persons and entities take reasonable best efforts to stop the malware and the data theft in its tracks.
• The court also demanded that the criminals stop committing crimes, including no longer distributing malware, running a botnet, stealing victims’ data, and selling that stolen data on to other crooks.
