(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- The FBI told a federal court last week it has scrubbed 19,000 PCs that were previously infected with the Coreflood bot malware, according to a report by Krebs on Security.
The effort comes more than two months after the US Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut was given the go-ahead to seize 29 domain names used in connection to the botnet, as well as to redirect traffic from the botnet's servers over to an FBI controlled-server.
The FBI also received a temporary restraining order that allowed it to send a command to Coreflood-infected PCs that would cease the botnet from operating.
The move is a part of a massive legal campaign that strives to wipe out one of the oldest and most dangerous malware viruses ever created.
Coreflood exploits the Windows operating system to create bot computers, infecting personal computers, larger organizations and businesses when it is downloaded by clicking on a "pop-up" or a link found on an unreliable website.
The malware has infected more than 2 million computers throughout its nearly 10 year existence.
According to the court-filed declaration, which can be viewed here, FBI special agent Kenneth Keller said the agency has sent about 19,000 uninstall commands to 24 identifiable victims in the US whose computers had been infected with the Coreflood malware.
The FBI said that all 24 victims, whom it had their written consent, did not experience any consequences from these uninstall commands, the FBI said.
The FBI has contacted hundreds of identifiable victims, as well as passed along information to about 25 of the largest ISPs in the US so they can alert their infected customers.
"The FBI has also provided information about infected computers to law enforcement agencies overseas," Keller told the court. "While it has not been possible to notify the owner of every infected computer, due in part to the difficulty in identifying the computer owners and obtaining accurate contact information for them, the decline in the size of the Coreflood Botnet is likely attributable in large part to the success of the victim notification efforts."
Keller also said that the FBI no longer needed to operate the substitute server in order to stop defendants from using the Coreflood botnet which are designed to steal private information.
Article Source http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/062311_FBI_Scrubs_19000_PCs_Infected_by_Coreflood_Bot_Malware permits to republish here.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Click Most Updated Discount Coupon Codes & My Personal Web Hosting Recommendations
Click http://nightwishmarketing.web.officelive.com/WebHosting.aspx
Stay Tuned!
Click http://nightwishmarketing.web.officelive.com/WebHosting.aspx
Stay Tuned!
<<<<<<<<<<<<