DoJ dismantles botnet made of 360,000 infected routers and IOT devices spread across 163 countries that ran for 16 years — SocksEscort proxy network eliminated in joint operation with Europol

The U.S. Department of Justice, in collaboration with Europol, successfully dismantled a massive botnet known as the SocksEscort proxy network, which had infected 360,000 routers and IoT devices in 163 countries over a 16-year period. The botnet facilitated various criminal activities, including bank and cryptocurrency account takeovers, ransomware distribution, DDoS attacks, and the dissemination of child sexual abuse material. The operation led to the seizure of $3.5 million worth of cryptocurrency and the takedown of 34 domains and 23 servers associated with the network. The incident highlights the vulnerability of home routers and smart devices to cybercriminal exploitation due to security flaws and lack of user awareness about firmware updates.