Microsoft worked with partners across 35 countries to disrupt Necurs, one of “the world’s most prolific botnets” that infected more than nine million computers worldwide, according to the company.
- The Necurs botnet is used to control computers remotely via spam email and other malware-related methods. Microsoft and others security experts first spotted it in 2012.
- Microsoft received a court order last week to take control of U.S.-based infrastructure Necurs uses to distribute malware.
- “This disruption is the result of eight years of tracking and planning and will help ensure the criminals behind this network are no longer able to use key elements of its infrastructure to execute cyberattacks,” Microsoft security exec Tom Burt wrote in a blog post.
- Microsoft has a resource page to help people free their Windows computer of malware.
