- An international law enforcement team has arrested a Chinese national, Yunhe Wang, for operating a large-scale botnet for nearly a decade.
- According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Wang’s botnet spanned nearly 200 countries and was likely the largest in the world.
- Authorities seized $29 million worth of cryptocurrency in connection with Wang’s activities.
An international law enforcement team arrested a Chinese national and disrupted a massive botnet that authorities said he operated for nearly a decade, amassing at least $99 million in profits by reselling access to criminals who used it for identity theft, child exploitation, pandemic relief scams and other financial fraud.
The “911 S5” botnet, a network of malware-infected computers spanning nearly 200 countries, is likely the world’s largest, the Department of Justice said Wednesday, citing FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The Department of Justice announced in a news release that 35-year-old Wang Yunhe was arrested on May 24. Wang was arrested in Singapore and search warrants were executed in Singapore and Thailand, FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Cyber Operations Brett Leatherman said in a LinkedIn post. Authorities also seized $29 million worth of cryptocurrency, Leatherman said.
Chinese hackers had access to US infrastructure for ‘at least five years’ before being discovered
According to the indictment filed in the Eastern District of Texas, cybercriminals used Wang’s network of zombie home computers to “steal billions of dollars from financial institutions, credit card issuers and account holders, and federal lending programs since 2014.”
Here’s the full picture from Singapore: Wang Yun-ho, 35, was arrested in Singapore on May 24 and search warrants were executed in the country and Thailand, according to Brett Leatherman, FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Cyber Operations. (Lars Baron/Getty Images)
Wang sold access to 19 million hijacked Windows PCs, including more than 613,000 in the United States, to criminals who “used that access to commit a staggering array of crimes that victimized children, endangered public safety, and defrauded financial institutions and federal lending programs,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the investigation.
He said criminals who bought access to the zombie network from Wang caused an estimated loss of more than $5.9 billion by defrauding relief programs. Authorities estimated that 560,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims originated from the compromised IP addresses.
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Wang allegedly controlled the botnet through 150 dedicated servers, half of which he leased from a U.S.-based online service provider.
According to the indictment, Wang used his ill-gotten gains to purchase 21 properties in China, the United States, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and St. Kitts and Nevis, and obtained citizenship through his investments.
In a news release, the Ministry of Justice expressed gratitude to the Singapore and Thai police and other authorities for their assistance.
