Dutch police dismantle botnet controlling 17 million devices

Dutch authorities have dismantled a massive botnet controlling at least 17 million infected devices worldwide in one of the largest cybercrime disruptions in recent years. The operation, a joint effort between the Dutch National Police and the National Cyber Security Centre, targeted the network's infrastructure, which was hosted on approximately 200 servers physically located in the Netherlands.

The investigation began after a cybersecurity researcher alerted the NCSC to suspicious activity linked to a sprawling proxy network. Authorities traced the command-and-control infrastructure and seized the servers from a commercial hosting provider. The provider subsequently took the botnet offline after confirming the servers were being used for criminal purposes. No arrests have been announced.

The botnet enslaved a vast array of internet-connected devices, including computers, smartphones, tablets, routers, and smart home products. Officials said cybercriminals used this network to conduct phishing campaigns, distribute spam, launch distributed denial-of-service attacks, and conceal other malicious online operations. The network functioned as a residential proxy service, routing...