To review this article, select My Profile and then View Saved Stories.
Cameron Dell
The U. S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced charges against a 35-year-old Chinese national, Yunhe Wang, accused of operating a large botnet believed to be linked to billions of dollars in fraud, child exploitation and bomb threats, among other crimes. .
Wang, known by aliases (Tom Long and Jack Wan, among others), was arrested on May 24 and is accused of distributing malware through various emerging VPN services, such as “ProxyGate” and “MaskVPN,” and embedding viruses in internet files. distributed through peer-to-peer networks called torrents.
Malware is said to have compromised computers located in almost every country in the world, turning them into proxy servers through which criminals can hide their identities while committing countless crimes. According to U. S. prosecutors, these involve the theft of billions of dollars. intended for Covid-19 pandemic relief: budget that was allegedly stolen through foreign actors posing as unemployed U. S. citizens.
According to one indictment, the inflamed computers provided Wang consumers with a persistent backdoor, allowing them to disguise themselves as any victim of Wang’s malware. This illicit proxy service, known as “911 S5,” was introduced as early as 2014, according to the United States. government.
“The 911 S5 botnet has inflamed computers in some 200 countries and facilitated a variety of cybercrimes, including money fraud, identity theft and child exploitation,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray, who described the illicit service as “probably the largest in the world. “network. ” The largest botnet ever created.
The U. S. Treasury Department also sanctioned Wang and two others believed to be connected to 911 S5.
Wang would have access to approximately 614,000 IP addresses in the United States and more than 18 million more worldwide, collectively forming the botnet. 911 Consumers of the S5 were able to geo-filter IP addresses where they wanted to appear, down to an express. U. S. zip code, the Justice Department states.
The indictment claims that of the 150 compromised servers used to run the botnet, as many as 76 were leased through U. S. -based service providers. The U. S. government has added the 911 S5 visitor interface, which allowed criminals to purchase goods using stolen credit cards, in many cases with the purported goal of circumventing U. S. export laws.
More than one million fraudulent applications filed with pandemic relief systems in the United States are believed to be connected to 911 S5. According to the indictment, approximately $6 billion in losses would be similar to IP addresses captured through 911 S5. Many IP addresses have reportedly been linked to more insidious crimes, such as bomb threats and trafficking in child sexual abuse material, or CSAM.
“Proxy facilities like 911 S5 are pervasive threats that protect criminals from compromised IP addresses of residential computers around the world,” said Damien Diggs, U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, where charges against Wang were brought through a grand jury. previous this year. month.
Nicole Argentieri, chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division, added, “These criminals have used the hacked computers to hide their identities and commit a multitude of crimes, from fraud to cyberbullying. “
At the time of writing, it’s unclear whether those virtual impersonations have resulted in criminal investigations or charges against U. S. -based patients. U. S. IP addresses were hijacked as part of the 911 S5 botnet. WIRED is awaiting a reaction from the Department of Justice regarding this concern.
According to the Justice Department, law enforcement agencies in Singapore, Thailand, and Germany collaborated with the U. S. government to arrest Wang.
Wang faces charges of conspiracy, computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money, with a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison. The U. S. must also capture a mountain of cars and luxury goods believed to belong to Wang. adding a 2022 Ferrari Spider valued at around a portion of a million dollars, as well as a Patek Philippe watch potentially valued several times over.
By Kim Zetter
By Aarian Marshall
By Will Knight
By Matt Burgess
In Your Inbox: Get Plain Text: Steven Levy’s Long-Term View on Technology
I was undercover from a secret discussion on Onlyfans. It wasn’t pretty.
The unattractive future of generative AI lies in enterprise applications
RFK Jr. Prepares for Election Denialism
Don’t worry: here are the mattresses you can buy online
Kim Zetter
Matt Burgess
Andy Greenberg
Cameron Dell
Andy Greenberg
Reece Rogers
Matt Burgess
Jared Keller
More from WIRING
Reviews & Guides
© 2024 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. WIRED would possibly obtain a portion of the sales of products purchased through our site through our partner partnerships with retailers. Fabrics on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached, or otherwise used without the prior written permission of Condé Nast Ad Options.