Is Your Computer Part of ‘The Largest Botnet Ever?’
Summary: The U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of YunHe Wang, a 35-year-old Chinese national, for allegedly operating 911 S5, a proxy service the FBI called "likely the world's largest botnet ever," which turned computers running free VPN products into traffic relays for cybercrime. The DOJ estimates 560,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims originated from compromised IP addresses, with confirmed losses exceeding $5.9 billion, and says the network spanned more than 19 million computers in at least 190 countries.
What's compelling: The government attributes over $5.9 billion in confirmed fraudulent unemployment claims to traffic routed through compromised home IP addresses, and the FBI names six free VPN brands - MaskVPN, DewVPN, PaladinVPN, Proxygate, Shield VPN, and ShineVPN - that users installed knowingly while their machines relayed attacks on U.S. businesses and agencies.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
- Cybercrime & Law Enforcement
- Related
- Gootloader Malware Disrupted After Infecting 25,000 Computers Cyber Risks · Nov 13, 2026354 dark web vendors and buyers arrested in Operation Tor Nado Cyber Risks · Nov 13, 2026Law Enforcement Disrupts Gootloader, CastleRAT, and StealC Infrastructure Cyber Risks · Nov 13, 2026