Microsoft cripples Rustock spam botnet with equipment raids

By Tom Warren, on 18th Mar 11 12:30 am with 7 Comments

Microsoft and U.S. enforcement agents seized computer hardware from Internet hosts across the U.S. on Wednesday.

The software giant launched raids as part of a lawsuit it filed in February against operators of the Rustock botnet. The Wall Street Journal reported the raids after a federal judge unsealed the lawsuit on Thursday. U.S. marshals assisted Microsoft’s digital crimes unit into Internet hosting facilities in Kansas City, Mo.; Scranton, Penn; Denver; Dallas; Chicago; Seattle and Columbus, Ohio.

“We think this has been 100% effective,” said Richard Boscovich to WSJ, senior attorney in Microsoft’s digital crimes unit. The move comes after Microsoft helped coordinate a major botnet takedown of Waledac last year. The waledac bonnet consisted of around 90,000 compromised machines capable of sending around 1.5 billion spam messages a day. The Rustock botnet is the largest source of spam in the world, consisting of around 150,000 machines sending around 30 billion spam messages a day. The take down is part of Microsoft’s fight against illegal botnets is designed to stop the spread of malware and spam mail.

Botnets are networks of compromised computers controlled by “bot herders” or “bot masters” that use the thousands (sometimes millions) of compromised Windows machines to distribute adware, spyware, spam emails and launch DDoS attacks. Botnets are typically installed onto end users machines by web browser vulnerabilities, worms, Trojan horses, or backdoors. A “bot master” will then control the machines by IRC commands to launch attacks or send email spam.

Microsoft has previously proposed that infected PCs should be banned from the Internet. Senior Microsoft Executive Scott Charney suggested in October that virus-infected PCs should be quarantined from the Internet in the same way that society deals with infected humans. The proposals generated a significant amount of industry debate. Charney reflected on his comments in February but still called for industry feedback and suggestions to tackle the ongoing issues of botnets and  infected PCs.

  • Adam Shaw

    Great!
    At lest somebody is doing something against the Evil that is spam.

  • http://twitter.com/s_a_r_k_i_s sarkis chamelian

    And people slate Microsoft…. A big thank you and my hats of to them !

  • Steve Jobs

    That’s watch Apple try to do anything that good without ripping people off! Go Microsoft!

  • http://twitter.com/bc3tech Brandon

    Awesomeness. I’m all for banning spammers & the computers they use from the internet entirely. I wonder if there’s a chance I’ll actually notice less spam getting put in my Junk folder…

  • Tetragrammaton

    Yes Microsoft, lets waive private property and civil rights laws and demonize the victims of the contagion you spread, not treat the problem. Think this through: If you remove the infected computers there will be no Microsoft OSes left on the web and all the aftermarket support developers whom Steve Balmer has dissed from the bottom of his black heart since the day he renamed DBase will be put out of work. The dominos will eventually and hopefully massively impact his big fat bank account.
    Microsoft: clean your act up or stay paying Rupert way more for propaganda. Sucks!

  • Schlockmeister

    If Microsoft seized my servers, right now my lawyers would be suing Microsoft for damages. The license says the OS is your property Steve, not mine.

  • The Black Swan

    Here is Microsoft putting their American clients out of business in favor of their overseas spam operations. Thanks Steve. Btw you’re supposed gut other people’s copmpanies, you self destructive corporate raider.