- An international law enforcement team has arrested a Chinese citizen, Wang Yunhe, for running a large botnet for nearly a decade.
- FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wang’s botnet spreads across nearly 200 countries and may be the largest in the world.
- Authorities seized $29 million in cryptocurrency related to Wang’s activities.
An international law enforcement team has arrested a Chinese citizen and disrupted a major botnet that officials said operated for nearly a decade and was used to commit identity theft and exploit children by reselling access to criminals. and financial fraud, netting at least $99 million in profits, including pandemic relief scams.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday quoted FBI Director Christopher Wray as saying that the “911 S5” botnet, a network of malware-infected computers in nearly 200 countries, may be the world’s largest. Botnet.
Wang Yunhe, 35, was arrested on May 24, Justice said in a news release. He was arrested in Singapore and search warrants were executed in Singapore and Thailand. Leatherman said authorities also seized $29 million worth of cryptocurrency.
Chinese hackers had access to U.S. infrastructure “at least 5 years” before they were discovered
According to an indictment filed in the Eastern District of Texas, cybercriminals used Wang’s botnet network of residential computers to “steal dozens of dollars from financial institutions, credit card issuers and account holders, and federal loan programs since 2014.” One hundred million U.S. dollars”.
Overall landscape of Singapore. Brett Leatherman, the FBI’s deputy assistant director for cyber operations, said Wang Yunhe, 35, was arrested in Singapore on May 24 and search warrants were executed in Singapore and Thailand. (Lars Barron/Getty Images)
Administrator Wang sold access to 19 million Windows computers he hijacked (more than 613,000 in the U.S.) to criminals, who “used that access to commit a series of shocking crimes that harmed preyed on children, threatened people’s safety and defrauded financial institutions and financial institutions.” federal loan program,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the clampdown.
He said criminals who purchased botnet access from Wang caused more than $5.9 billion in losses through fraud targeting relief programs. Officials estimate that 560,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims originated from stolen IP addresses.
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Wang allegedly managed the botnet through 150 dedicated servers, half of which were rented from U.S. online service providers.
The indictment alleges that Wang used his illegal gains to purchase 21 properties in China, the United States, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and St. Kitts and Nevis, and obtained citizenship through investment.
In a press release, the Ministry of Justice thanked police and other authorities in Singapore and Thailand for their assistance.
