Google Sues Two Russian Nationals For Allegedly Running Illegal Botnet - Court Filings

Google is suing two Russian nationals for allegedly running an illegal botnet using hacked computers, court documents filed in a US district court on Tuesday said

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2021) Google is suing two Russian nationals for allegedly running an illegal botnet using hacked computers, court documents filed in a US district court on Tuesday said.

"Defendants are Russian cybercriminals who have silently infiltrated more than a million computers and other devices around the globe to create a network - the Glupteba 'botnet' - to use for illicit purposes, including the theft and unauthorized use of Google users' login and account information," the court filing said.

The Glupteba botnet, allegedly created by Russian defendants Dmitry Starovikov and Alexander Filippov, is distinguished from its conventional counterparts by its technical sophistication, namely, its use of blockchain technology to protect against disruption, the court filing said.

A thorough investigation determined that the Glupteba botnet currently involved approximately one million compromised Windows devices worldwide and can grow at a rate of thousands of new devices a day, Google said in an official blog post about the situation. The botnet is notorious for stealing users' credentials and data and mining cryptocurrencies on infected devices, they added.

Google's legal complaint alleges a number of violations, including of US technology and hacking crimes, financial crimes, and identity fraud, the court filing said.