The Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has just announced that it has “ taken measures to disrupt the operations of Glupteba, a sophisticated botnet that targets Windows machines and protects itself against it. ‘using blockchain technology ‘. Glupteba is said to currently involve around one million compromised Windows devices worldwide, and is growing at the rate of thousands of new devices per day.
To keep their grip on so many devices, hackers “ use advertisements on Google for job postings for websites ”Which carry out illegal activities, specifies AFP. Cyber security experts had alerted to the existence of Glupteba as early as 2011. It was masquerading as free software or videos to download.
Glupteba is said to be known to steal user credentials and data, mine cryptocurrencies from infected hosts , deploy and operate proxy components targeting Windows systems and IoT devices, and configure proxies to channel other people’s internet traffic through infected machines and routers.
TAG also has “ terminated approximately 63 million Google documents that distributed Glupteba, 1 183 Google accounts, 908 cloud projects and 870 Google Ads accounts associated with their distribution. In addition, 3.5 million users were warned before downloading a malicious file via the warnings of Google Safe Browsing ”.
Google comes to this title to initiate a dispute for fraud, computer abuse and trademark infringement against two of its managers, suspected of being located in Russia. This would be the “ first lawsuit against a blockchain-enabled botnet which we believe will set a precedent, legal liability for botnet operators and help deter future activity ” .
