The FBI dismantles "the largest botnet in the world" which affected 19 million unique IP addresses

May 30. (Portaltic/EP) –

A coordinated operation led by the FBI has dismantled what is considered the largest ‘botnet’ identified to date, which has affected more than 19 million unique IPs from 200 countries.

Fraudulent virtual private network (VPN) applications and pay-per-install services have infected millions of Windows computers around the world to create a ‘botnet’ that was later used to facilitate various cybercrimes.

The ‘botnet’, known as 911 S5, has been active between 2014 and 2022, time in which it affected more than 19 million unique IP addresses in 200 countries, as stated in the FBI press release.

The operation, led by the US investigative agency, has dismantled what is considered to be “the largest ‘botnet’ in the world”, as FBI Director Christopher Wray has pointed out. For her, a citizen of Chinese origin identified as her administrator has been arrested, who has also had dozens of assets and properties confiscated.

This person managed approximately 150 servers worldwide, with which he controlled the infected computers. He also gave paying customers access to proxy IP addresses associated with the infected devices, which they used to mask their identities and commit crimes, including financial fraud, identity theft and child exploitation.

Police agencies from the United States, Singapore, Thailand and Germany have participated in this operation.