Good news today. The owners of one of the largest botnets were arrested, effectively shutting it down. When cybercriminals want to do their dirty work, they use a botnet. For those that don't know, a botnet is a collection of computers that have a small program on it called a bot (which is short for robot) whose sole purpose is to carry out instructions of the owner of the botnet. This allows cybercriminals to cover their tracks while at the same time increase the scope of their attacks. The really nasty ones clean your computer of viruses and malware and keep it clean so that you never know you are infected. Botnets send spam, carry out internet attacks, steal financial details by various methods, or a combination of those three. On March 2, the three owners of this botnet were arrested in Spain.

This botnet was called Mariposa, which is butterfly in English. They had an estimated 12.7 million PC's infected. This botnet was used to steal credit card information and banking credientals. The three unidentified botnet owners kept a low profile. But they made a few careless mistakes that enabled police to track them down. The key that led to their downfall was revenge. The botnet was partially blocked and one of the cybercriminals used his personal internet connection to stage a counter-attack.

The malware spread by instant messaging (IM) programs, file sharing programs, and shared USB drives. When it comes to IM programs, such as Skype, do not accept any connection from an unknown person and if you are asked to click on a link, ask your friend to be sure it is legitimate. For file sharing programs such as Limewire, I generally recommend you not use them at all. While Limeware itself is fine, people use it for the wrong reasons. Just because you can download the song for free does not mean it is legal. And that song or video may be loaded with a virus.

What is special about these arrests is the creators of it were arrested. They were very professional, but obviously they were human because it was simple mistakes that led to their downfall. While the malware itself is still active, it won't be receiving orders for some time, if at all ever again.

This information is from an AP news report.

Update on March 4: It appears this botnet had stolen information from about 800,000 people. Police are also trying to track down a fourth person in connection with this botnet.