US Arrests Creator of Botnet That Amassed Over $130 Million in Cryptocurrencies

The US Department of Justice has dismantled the major 911 S5 botnet, responsible for a series of cyberattacks and fraud incidents. The network’s creator, 35-year-old Yunhe Wang, a citizen of China and Saint Kitts and Nevis, has been arrested.

According to the case materials, from 2014 to 2022, Wang compromised a million home computers in 200 countries by distributing free VPN services with backdoors. He subsequently integrated these devices into a single botnet with over 19 million IP addresses and sold access to it to third-party cybercriminals for cryptocurrencies.

The indictment states that the botnet facilitated a range of crimes, including financial fraud, identity theft, and child exploitation.

Analysts at Chainalysis reported that wallets associated with Wang contained a total of more than $130 million in various digital assets.

Authorities have seized 23 domains on 70 servers, as well as assets amounting to $30 million.

OFAC has imposed financial sanctions against Wang, his accomplices, and the organizations under his control.

Earlier, ForkLog reported on a botnet that uses the Bitcoin blockchain as a backup command-and-control center, making it resilient to shutdown attempts.