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Avalanche Botnet Comes Tumbling Down In Largest-Ever Sinkholing Operation
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RetiredUser
RetiredUser,
 User Rank: Ninja
12/2/2016 | 3:55:28 AM
How Serious a Blow?
I have to wonder if the blow dealt was as serious as reported.  Don't get me wrong, this is a successful operation regardless and sets the stage for future ones (which there will have to be).  But Avalanche isn't just a small group and when it went "quiet" we were probably watching evolution, not the disappearance of the syndicate; this botnet may even have been an acceptable loss.  What should be happening now is the analysis of the infrastructure to understand how Avalanche evolved and into what.  You don't accomplish as much as this syndicate did and simply go belly up after a raid like this.  It's also worth noting timelines in terms of how many years this threat existed before this large raid hit.  Something's wrong with your security offensive procedures when you're stuck with a series of "legal" raids that either go nowhere or pull small fish from the pond, and you need to pull together a global task force to get anywhere ("legally").  We just can't assume the threat is completely contained from this group.     
Crypt0L0cker
Crypt0L0cker,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/2/2016 | 2:01:33 PM
Re: How Serious a Blow?
I guess it's pretty serious  - they got organiser, Hennadiy Kapkanov. He was armed with Kalashnikov, dangerous and had different shoes :)
kbannan100
kbannan100,
 User Rank: Moderator
12/4/2016 | 8:53:51 PM
Re: How Serious a Blow?
Totally agree! If they are truly out of the picture a new gang of criminals is going to pop up -- and soon. If they haven't already! And there are still some pretty nasty malware instances out there. (For instance, the one that took down Dyn using the IoT devices. Read more about that here: bit.ly/2ewIBtW)



People are going to need to be more careful and concentrate on shoring up network security and endpoints -- everything from printers to thermostats to mobile devices.


--Karen Bannan for IDG and HP
Dan Euritt
Dan Euritt,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/4/2016 | 11:13:14 AM
It surely must have helped, but...
Only five people stealing millions of dollars? I wonder how many criminals got away.

Thanks for the article.
ClaireEllison
ClaireEllison,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/4/2016 | 3:52:44 PM
Re: Industry
Excellent article plus its information and I positively bookmark to this site because here I always get an amazing knowledge as I expect.
francois999
francois999,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/4/2016 | 1:47:07 PM
Thank you for the info
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FRANCOIS
Nanireko
Nanireko,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/5/2016 | 3:38:21 AM
Avalanche
I do see fewer spam messages with malicious attachments this December. It looks like this operation was really successful. Does anybody else see the decrease in spam emails these days?
Crypt0L0cker
Crypt0L0cker,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/5/2016 | 5:06:12 AM
Re: Crypt0L0cker
And as I can see from his driver license (probably fake, but anyway) his origin is Russia.


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