FBI Swaps Servers, Kills Malware Bots In Cyber-Sting

  • Share
  • Read Later

We all know about fighting fire with fire, but I have to admit: Fighting Command-And-Control with Command-And-Control…that’s a new one. Nonetheless, that’s what the US Justice Department is doing, working with the nonprofit Internet Systems Consortium and the FBI to install their own command-and-control servers to kill existing malware bots.

What the USDOJ, FBI and ISC essentially did was replace the “bad” C&C servers with their own “good” C&C servers, which then sent a message telling the malware bots to shut down instead of causing trouble. Like that’d do anything, right?

Surprise, it seems to be working: The system was activated on Tuesday, directed towards the Coreflood malware bots that attempted to gain access to victims’ bank accounts, and according to the authorities, did so successfully.

Following up on the server swap, the authorities plan to release the IP addresses of infected computers to ISPs, so that users can be informed and take measures to cleanse their systems.

More on TIME.com:

LizaMoon Malware Spreads Through iTunes, Infects 500,000+ Pages

Malware Ads Affected “Just a Handful” Says Spotify

The World’s Largest Spambot Network Goes Quiet