Police shut down botnet selling hacked routers globally

Law enforcement has shut down a massive botnet, active since 2004, that used hacked routers to create residential proxy networks, impacting global internet security. The botnet, dubbed Anyproxy, infected thousands of routers worldwide, selling access to compromised devices through the Anyproxy.net and 5socks.net services, generating over $46 million. Four individuals, including three Russians and one Kazakhstani, have been indicted for their roles. The FBI warned that the botnet targeted end-of-life routers, using malware to install proxies for anonymous cybercrime. The proxies were used to conceal illicit activities like ad fraud and cryptocurrency theft.