The US Department of Justice has blocked a botnet of millions of connected devices open to all criminals. This service was intended to carry out phishing campaigns.
It was the favorite tool of thousands of hackers. The United States announced on June 16 that it dismantled a botnet, that is to say a network of infected connected devices, intended to carry out cyberattacks. Called RSOCKS, it allowed hackers to use IP addresses of compromised computers or objects to conduct their operations. Infected devices are hijacked to hide the true source of the hack. Investigators believe that this botnet was first used to anonymize phishing campaigns or cyberattacks.
RSOCKS was a service open to everyone, quite easy to use and recommended by hackers on the darknet. The price for using the network varies according to the number of proxies – infected devices – exploited: criminals could access 2,000 proxies for 30 dollars per day (about 28.50 euros) and 9,000 proxies for 200 dollars per day (about 190 euros).
” This operation took down a very sophisticated Russian-based cybercriminal organization that was carrying out intrusions in the United States and abroad said FBI Special Agent Stacey Moy.
Always-on connection with compromised devices
Like many botnets, RSOCKS initially targeted wearables but quickly spread to industrial control systems, Android devices and PCs, according to the US Department of Justice. To infect an object, the attackers used a brute force attack to find a password and then implant the malware. The main RSOCKS servers maintained a persistent connection with the compromised devices.
” Several large public and private entities fell victim to the RSOCKS botnet, including a university, hotel, television studio, and electronics manufacturer, as well as home-based businesses and individuals “, specify the American authorities.
The US Department of Justice worked jointly with German, Dutch and British law enforcement to take down the botnet. In April, another network of infected computers was blocked by Washington.
