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'Largest Botnet Ever’ Tied to Billions in Stolen Covid-19 Relief Funds
May 31, 2024
Chinese national operated '911 S5' botnet for massive fraud, child exploitation, and cyber threats. Billions in illicit gains, pandemic relief program fraud, ties to criminal activities. Sanctions imposed, personal information protection service introduced.
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Quick takeaways
- The '911 S5' botnet facilitated over $6 billion in fraudulent Covid relief claims, demonstrating the scale of cybercrime activities.
- Proxy service '911 S5' enabled global criminals to hide behind compromised IP addresses, perpetrating various crimes worldwide.
Deep dives
Massive Botnet Linked to Stolen COVID-19 Relief Funds
The United States Department of Justice announced charges against a 35-year-old Chinese national, Yunhee Wang, for operating a massive botnet tied to billions in stolen COVID-19 relief funds. Wang distributed malware through pop-up VPN services and peer-to-peer networks, compromising computers worldwide for criminal activities, including fraud and child exploitation. The infected computers provided Wang's customers with a backdoor to hide their identities, allowing them to commit various crimes across nearly 200 countries. This illicit proxy service, known as 911-S5, has been described by the FBI Director as potentially the world's largest botnet ever.
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