Department of Justice, United States of America said on Thursday that a joint operation by the US and its allies have successfully dismantled a network of devices which got hacked by Russian cyberattackers.
The operation was led by law enforcement agencies from the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and Britain. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) played a crucial role in the operations. If you’re looking into buying proxy service that is secured and hassle-free, check out Geonode.
A press release dated June 16, 2022, stated that the network RSOCKS botnet hacked into millions of personal computers. Attackers also targetted devices connected to the internet, gadgets like routers, smart garage openers etc.
According to the report by DoJ, the RSOCKS botnet hacked into millions of devices. IP addresses of internet-connected devices got utilised by RSOCKS.
RSOCKS then sold those IP addresses to users who would pay the network for proxy IP addresses. The most startling fact is that actual owners won’t even know about the hack or their IP address being sold for money. What happens next to these IP addresses is the most dangerous part.
Individuals who use RSOCKS to buy proxy addresses should somewhere pay between 30 dollars and 200 dollars per day. These users will get access to millions of thousands of IP addresses according to what they pay to RSOCKS.
Those who buy these IP addresses will use them as a proxy to route malicious traffic to the internet. The original devices and IP addresses will act like a mask (proxy) for all the malicious and criminal activities happening using those IP addresses.
IP addresses bought like this through RSOCKS get into the hands of cybercriminals who use it to attack authentication services, social media attacks, sending malicious emails etc.
Since not everyone on the internet is tech-savvy, a significant amount of the population falls for a trick like this.
According to FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy, the joint operation “disrupted a highly sophisticated” cybercrime organisation. Investigative agencies and the Department of Justice confirmed that these Russian cyber criminals controlled these networks. They use networks such as RSOCKS to conduct massive phishing and cyberattacks on both individuals and organisations, she said.
In similar cyberattacks, numerous websites, and government entities got targeted around the world.
FBI Undercover Operation
DoJ specifically congratulated FBI investigators for conducting covert undercover operations to get access to RSOCKS botnet networks.
FBI conducted undercover purchases in the early months of 2017 and found out that almost, 325000 devices have been compromised in San Diego County alone in the USA.
In further investigations, investigative agencies confirmed attacks happened worldwide.
The report stated that several entities both public and private, universities, hotel chains, and electronics manufacturers got attacked by RSOCKS.
