Law Enforcement Shuts Down Botnet Made Of Tens Of Thousands Of Hacked Routers

Law Enforcement Shuts Down Botnet Made Of Tens Of Thousands Of Hacked Routers

Botnet Takedown: 369,000 Hacked Routers Shut Down Worldwide Tens of thousands of hacked home and small business routers were taken offline this week after a sweeping international law enforcement operation dismantled one of the most dangerous criminal proxy networks in recent memory. The botnet, known as SocksEscort, had been secretly hijacking people's internet connections for over a decade — and most victims had absolutely no idea. What Was SocksEscort — and Why Should You Care? SocksEscort was not your average cybercrime operation. It was a paid criminal service that rented out access to thousands of infected routers, allowing bad actors to mask their real identities while committing fraud, launching cyberattacks, and distributing illegal content. The service operated like a legitimate business — complete with subscription tiers and customer support — except that every "product" it sold was stolen bandwidth from unsuspecting households and small offices around the world.…