FBI Stops World's Largest Botnet
Summary
TLDRThe video discusses the arrest of Yun He Wang, the alleged administrator of the 911 S5 botnet, which disguised malware as free VPNs, infecting millions of devices and leading to significant cybercrimes. It explores discussions on the dark web using Flare, a platform for threat intelligence, showing the botnet's evolution, its rebranding as Cloud Router, and the impact on victims. The video emphasizes the importance of cybersecurity and offers insights into tracking and mitigating such threats.
Takeaways
- 👮♂️ Yun He Wang, also known as 'Traffic Carb', has been arrested for allegedly administering the notorious 911 S5 botnet.
- 🔒 The 911 S5 botnet disguised malware as free VPNs, infecting Windows devices and expanding to control over 19 million IP addresses.
- 💡 The botnet facilitated international crimes including pandemic and unemployment fraud, and access to child exploitation materials.
- 📰 More information on the arrest and the botnet can be found in a press release on justice.gov.
- 🌐 Discussions on the arrest are taking place across the dark web, with hackers inquiring about the botnet's infrastructure.
- 🔍 Flare, a cybersecurity platform, is used to explore and translate discussions from Russian hacking forums.
- 🕵️♂️ Flare has indexed the dark web, making it searchable and providing insights into cybercriminal activities.
- 🔗 The botnet used a proxy backdoor to reroute criminal activity through victim devices, masking the origin of nefarious actions.
- 📈 The 911 S5 botnet was active from 2014, was taken offline in 2022, and was revived as 'Cloud Router' in 2023 before being seized by law enforcement.
- 💼 The botnet administrator openly sold services on dark web forums, demonstrating the commercial nature of cybercrime.
- 🛡️ Flare can track user accounts across forums, revealing the extent of a cybercriminal's online presence and operations.
- 🚨 The script emphasizes the importance of cybersecurity awareness and the use of tools like Flare to protect against threats and monitor exposure.
Q & A
Who was arrested in connection with the 911 S5 botnet?
-Yun He Wang, also known by the alias 'traffic carb', was arrested for alleged involvement as the administrator of the notorious 911 S5 botnet.
What was the primary function of the software published by 'traffic carb'?
-The software published by 'traffic carb' was malware disguised as free virtual private networks (VPNs), which infected Windows devices and added their IP addresses to the botnet.
How many IP addresses were affected by the 911 S5 botnet?
-The 911 S5 botnet affected over 19 million IP addresses, leading to significant issues including pandemic and unemployment fraud and access to child exploitation materials.
What is the significance of the platform 'flare' mentioned in the script?
-Flare is a platform used to reduce risk from threats such as leaked credentials, malware logs, and to manage exposed attack surfaces. It is also used to search discussions across the dark web.
What is the role of the dark web in the context of the 911 S5 botnet?
-The dark web was used by the botnet's administrator and associates for discussions and advertising their services, as well as selling access to victim machines as proxies.
What was the business model of the 911 S5 botnet?
-The botnet's business model involved offering free or low-cost VPN services that secretly installed malware, creating a network of infected devices that could be used for various criminal activities.
What was the role of the 'proxy back door' in the 911 S5 botnet?
-The proxy back door enabled the botnet users to reroute their devices through victim devices, making nefarious activity appear as if it was coming from the victim's devices themselves.
When was the 911 S5 botnet initially started and when was it taken offline?
-The 911 S5 botnet was started in May 2014 and was taken offline by the administrator in July 2022, but it was later revived and rebranded as Cloud Router in October 2023.
What is the significance of the seizure banner on the Cloud Router website?
-The seizure banner on the Cloud Router website indicates that the site has been seized by law enforcement, and it includes an animated GIF that loops through a law enforcement notice in different languages.
How can individuals and organizations protect themselves from similar botnets?
-Individuals and organizations can protect themselves by avoiding the use of unverified VPNs, keeping their systems updated, using security software, and monitoring their digital infrastructure for signs of compromise.
What is the role of the FBI in the takedown of the 911 S5 botnet?
-The FBI was involved in the arrest of the botnet administrator and the seizure of the Cloud Router website, which was a rebranded version of the 911 S5 botnet.
Outlines
🔒 Arrest of 911 S5 Botnet Administrator
The video script discusses the arrest of Yun He Wang, suspected of being the administrator of the 911 S5 botnet, a notorious malware operation disguised as free VPNs. These VPNs infected Windows devices, leading to a botnet controlling over 19 million IP addresses. The botnet facilitated international crimes, including pandemic and unemployment fraud, and access to child exploitation materials. The script mentions the use of Flare, a cybersecurity platform, to explore discussions on the dark web following the arrest. It highlights the botnet's operations, the malware's disguise as VPNs, and the extensive discussions among cybercriminals on Russian hacking forums about the arrest and the botnet's inner workings.
🕵️♂️ Dark Web Discussions and Impact of 911 S5 Botnet
This paragraph delves into the dark web's reaction to the arrest and the 911 S5 botnet's operations. It describes how the botnet administrator, known as Traffic Carb, advertised infected devices as proxy nodes, offering them for sale on various forums. The script mentions the use of Flare to track and analyze these activities, including the advertisement of victim machines as proxies and the sale of access to these machines. The paragraph also touches on the botnet's revival and rebranding as Cloud Router, which was later seized by law enforcement. It concludes with a reminder of the importance of cybersecurity and the availability of Flare for tracking and managing information exposure.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Botnet
💡Malware
💡VPN (Virtual Private Network)
💡Cyber Criminal
💡Dark Web
💡Flare
💡Command and Control (C2)
💡Proxy Back Door
💡Financial Fraud
💡Cloud Router
💡Cyber Security
Highlights
Yun He Wang, also known as 'Traffic Carb', has been arrested for allegedly being the administrator of the notorious 911 S5 botnet.
The 911 S5 botnet operated by disguising malware as free VPNs, infecting over 19 million IP addresses.
The botnet's activities led to significant losses due to pandemic and unemployment fraud, as well as access to child exploitation materials.
Flare, the sponsor of the video, is highlighted as a platform for reducing risk from various cyber threats.
Discussions on Russian hacking forums reveal interest in the mixer and hosting provider used by the botnet.
Flare's archive of the dark web and other illicit websites allows for searchable historical data on cybercrime.
At the time of arrest, the botnet controlled approximately 120,000 residential proxy nodes globally.
The botnet's command and control servers were located abroad or hosted on cloud servers.
Malicious VPNs like Mask VPN, DoVPN, and ProxyGate were part of the botnet, some offered for free, others for a price.
The 911 S5 botnet was initially taken offline in July 2022 but was revived and rebranded as Cloud Router in October 2023.
Law enforcement seized the Cloud Router domain, displaying an animated seizure banner in multiple languages.
The proxy back door of the botnet allowed criminals to reroute their activities through victim devices.
Victims' infected devices were advertised for sale as nodes on the dark web.
Dark web forums like No Hide Anti-Chat and Wicked Fire were used by the botnet administrator for advertising.
Flare can track user accounts and their posts across different forums, providing insight into botnet operations.
Victims on platforms like Dread discuss the use of Cloud Router VPNs, unaware of their malicious nature.
Flare's search capabilities can identify artifacts from affected users, providing valuable data on botnet infections.
The video concludes with a call to avoid cybercrime and the importance of cybersecurity vigilance, especially with VPNs.
Transcripts
Yun he Wang allegedly the individual
behind the handle and Alias traffic carb
or traffic cash has been arrested in
alleged suspicion of being the
administrator of the notorious 911 S5
botn net the inner workings of the botn
net were that software published by
traffic carb was in fact malware
disguised as free virtual private
networks or VPN these malware scams were
made free for the public and they
infected each Windows device that would
install and use them ultimately that led
to over 19 million IP addresses being
part of the botnet all International
which meant billions of dollars in
pandemic and unemployment fraud and
access to child exploitation materials
by cyber criminals in that Syndicate you
can read more about it on the
justice.gov press release but I would
like to explore and see what other
chatter is out there out and about
following this arrest and the 911 S5
botnet as a whole I'm taking a look at
discussions across the dark web and to
do that I'm using flare now full
disclosure flare is the sponsor of this
video but I'm sure as you know I'm a
huge fan of their platform it's
seriously one of the best ways that you
and your organization can reduce risk
from threats ranging from leaked
credentials to information stealing
malware logs and manage your exposed
attack surface anyway let's see what
cyber criminals are chatting about
surrounding the 911 S5 botet this one
includes a link so we can go take a look
at the source this is a post on
xs. one of the known Russian hacking
forums so this isn't a language that I
can't read but I'll have it funneled
through Google translate the translation
might get mixed up and it might not be
the best English but you can kind of get
an idea and right away folks are asking
about what kind of mixer they use and oh
they hosting provider that's like riding
their coattails wanting to use whatever
they did there are about three pages
worth of discussion here and it's the
usual thread actor Antics right whatever
flaming Shenanigans they do and I won't
drag you down the rabbit hole here but I
would like to be scrolling through a bit
just so you get to see it bear in mind
this is just chatter on xss dois there's
certainly more in other forums or
telegram channels telegram is after all
like social media for cyber crime it's
the threat actor hangout spot in HQ and
just so you know how we're tracking all
this down flare has built their own
archived copy of the dark web and other
more questionable elicit websites
they've ingested over 6,000 telegram
channels and leaky S3 buckets and GitHub
repositories and all this wild stuff out
there on the internet and they've made
it searchable like Global Universal
search so you can look through the
entire historical archive that's updated
every single day looking through the
results we can see lots of disc
discussions around the arrest of the
alleged botnet administrator and
remember 911 S5 lured victims by
offering a free VPN that VPN installed
malware that added the victim's IP
address to the botn net at the time of
the arrest the botnet controlled about
120,000 residential proxy nodes all
around the world and each of them
interacted with several C2 or command
and control servers located abroad or
hosted on a Cloud Server
some of the known malicious vpns were
called mask VPN or do VPN shine VPN and
proxygate most were offered for free but
some cost some coin you can take a look
at the prices here man look at that
table that's a business and sales tactic
right there itemize hey compare and
contrast side by side what features are
doing what that is advertising and hey
cyber crime is an Enterprise and an
industry maybe you're doing just the
same thing to land a deal anyway the 911
S5 botnet was started way back in May
2014 but was actually taken offline by
the administrator in July of 2022 but it
was later revived and rebranded as Cloud
router in October of 2023 you could
actually find them online at Cloud
router. but that has been seized by law
enforcement and taken down this seizure
Banner is actually an animated gif that
Loops through the law enforcement notice
in in the different appropriate
languages and the link that they
reference on the page brings you to the
FBI notice on this takedown that
includes the names of some more
illegitimate and malicious VPN
applications and look at this the proxy
back door enabled the 911 S5 botnet
users to reroute their devices through
victim devices allowing criminals to
carry out crimes such as bomb threats
financial fraud identity theft child
exploitation and initial ACC brokering
by using a proxy back door criminals
made nefarious activity appear as though
it was coming from the victim's devices
themselves that's wild the page includes
some other tactical and technical
details about finding this malare and if
you're concerned I'd totally recommend
taking a look through it but the victims
that had their infected devices sold as
nodes were actually advertised in a
really surprising way cyber crime is a
business
after all but traffic carb again the
handle for the bot net administrator
here would just blatantly and almost
desperately sell his Services there are
some other dark web forums that I
haven't showcased in a video before like
no hide anti-chat and wicked fire and we
can use flare to see some of the
previous posts from threat carb and his
associates all on behalf of now Cloud
router here's a post on no hide selling
access to the victim machines in the
botnet to be used as a proxy look at all
the different SKS you can even get like
a test package for
$2 this exact same post was on the
anti-chat Forum but has since been
removed I don't know for sure but I'd
have to take a guess that account may
have been removed following the arrest
and all the threads went down with it on
that note we even see the cloud router
user post on Wicked fire but he realized
his own advertising might not have
followed the forum's community rules so
he says oh I wasn't supposed to post
this thread not sure how to delete it
that page won't even load I guess I
don't know I suppose Wicked fire is
changing up their website right now but
now we can follow through with whatever
this user account posted across whatever
Forum by tracking their username with
Flare they all come from cloud router or
cloud router. and it's hard to say that
that's some opsc failure because sure
it's all the same username and that
makes it easy for researchers and
analysts to track down but you got to
acknowledge that's their business in
branding all at the same time so what
about the victims there is some chatter
on dread the dark web equivalent of
Reddit where folks discuss that they use
some of the cloud router provided vpns
this is as recent as March of this year
and they say it shares the same user
interface as 911 granted it's the same
thing and it doesn't come at a terrible
price m that is just one individual
though out of what 19 million IP
addresses so it's hard to Gro the entire
impact here but we can get some
interesting tidbits with Flare noting
their infected devices or their Steeler
log section we can track down artifacts
from affected users that have session
data for cloud router. here are a couple
showcases for results in the past month
but that sort of detail is kind of wild
all in all I'm glad to see another cyber
criminal arrested huge props to law
enforcement for another takedown and
arrest and I said it before and I'll say
it over and over and over again don't do
this stuff don't be a cyber criminal be
on the good side of cyber security and
if you're keeping tabs on stuff like
this then make sure those vpns aren't
anywhere in your environment and you can
track a lot of this down with Flare just
as I've showcased for research but even
to know your own information exposure
like in case your employees or you your
co-workers anything in an organization
have some artifacts out and about in
Steeler logs or even like digital
infrastructure access for sale on the
dark Li flare has also like dramatically
simplified their free trial process so
you can sign up even without a sales
call with just the link in the video
description thanks so much for watching
please do all those YouTube algorithm
things like comment subscribe and with
that I'll see you in the next video
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