Software giant Microsoft said its Digital Crimes Unit helped to takedown servers that were powering some of the worst operations of cybercrime today. The family of malware known as Zeus is responsible for a great deal of the online identity theft and fraud, said Microsoft officials.
U.S. Marshals raided official buildings in Pennsylvania and Illinois on Friday. They were accompanied by investigators from Microsoft. Also supporting the raid were financial security firms such as Electronic Payments Association and others.
At the site, computers were found to be infected with the malware, which records a user’s every keystroke with a “keylogger.” The malware was able to monitor activity online to gain access to user’s usernames and passwords. Victim’s identities were then stolen, money was withdrawn from accounts and online purchases using credit cards were made.
One of Microsoft’s senior attorneys in the Digital Crimes unit said that malware sets from Zeus sell for as little as $700 and as high as $15,000. Microsoft said there are over 13 million infections worldwide.
Thirty-nine people were charged with cybercrimes in the complaint filed in court. Experts said that they have not seen any impact on the cybercrime that takes place around the globe since the raids have been taking place. This was the fourth such raid to take place and Microsoft pointed out that it has just started to dismantle the botnets that have been ruining the lives of innocent victims.
