Netherlands Government Takes Down Massive Malware Botnet Infecting 17 Million Devices

The Dutch Government Disrupts Massive Botnet with 17 Million Infected Devices

In a significant operation, Dutch authorities have successfully shut down a massive botnet comprising 17 million devices and confiscated over 200 servers from a local provider that facilitated the network’s activities.

The operation was conducted as a result of a thorough investigation by the Police in partnership with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) of the Netherlands.

According to official reports, the seized servers were responsible for controlling a vast array of devices including computers, tablets, and smartphones to execute various cyberattacks.

Botnets are illicit networks of compromised devices utilized for unlawful purposes such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, malicious traffic redirection, and cryptocurrency mining.

“The investigation uncovered that the botnet comprised at least 17 million infected devices, with the 200 servers used for infrastructure located within the Netherlands,” stated the NCSC.

“Subsequently, the authorities seized multiple botnet servers from a hosting provider for further investigation. The hosting provider took immediate action to deactivate the botnet due to its involvement in criminal activities.”

While the specific name of the botnet was not disclosed by authorities, local media sources linked it to a service known as Asocks, which promotes itself as a versatile proxy service offering 7 million IP addresses, 150 locations, and serving 100,000 clients.

Asocks provides different proxy options including corporate, residential, and mobile proxies for monthly subscriptions ranging from $5 to $15, with discounts available for bulk purchases.

Despite some proxy services operating legitimately by utilizing volunteer IP addresses for bandwidth exchange, the actions taken by the NCSC suggest that the owners of the infected devices within the botnet were unaware participants in supporting criminal cyber operations.

BleepingComputer has reached out to Asocks for comment on the allegations, but as of publication time, no response has been received.

To safeguard networking devices from botnet infections, it is crucial to change default credentials to unique and strong passwords, keep firmware updated, and disable remote administration panels when not in use.

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