• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Interlock ransomware group deploys new PHP-based RAT via FileFix

 | 

Global Louis Vuitton data breach impacts UK, South Korea, and Turkey

 | 

Experts uncover critical flaws in Kigen eSIM technology affecting billions

 | 

Spain awarded €12.3 million in contracts to Huawei

 | 

Patch immediately: CVE-2025-25257 PoC enables remote code execution on Fortinet FortiWeb

 | 

Wing FTP Server flaw actively exploited shortly after technical details were made public

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 53

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 532 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

McDonald’s job app exposes data of 64 Million applicants

 | 

Athlete or Hacker? Russian basketball player accused in U.S. ransomware case

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

UK NCA arrested four people over M&S, Co-op cyberattacks

 | 

PerfektBlue Bluetooth attack allows hacking infotainment systems of Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Skoda

 | 

Qantas data breach impacted 5.7 million individuals

 | 

DoNot APT is expanding scope targeting European foreign ministries

 | 

Nippon Steel Solutions suffered a data breach following a zero-day attack

 | 

Iranian group Pay2Key.I2P ramps Up ransomware attacks against Israel and US with incentives for affiliates

 | 

Hackers weaponize Shellter red teaming tool to spread infostealers

 | 

Microsoft Patch Tuesday security updates for July 2025 fixed a zero-day

 | 

Italian police arrested a Chinese national suspected of cyberespionage on a U.S. warrant

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Malware
  • Google won a lawsuit against the Glupteba botnet operators

Google won a lawsuit against the Glupteba botnet operators

Pierluigi Paganini November 21, 2022

Google won a lawsuit filed against two Russian nationals involved in the operations of the Glupteba botnet.

This week, Google announced it has won a nearly year-long legal battle against the Glupteba botnet. Glupteba is a highly sophisticated botnet composed of millions of compromised Windows devices. Unlike other botnets, Gluteba leverages cryptocurrency blockchains as a command-and-control mechanism in an attempt to make it more resilient to takeover.

“This means that a conventional botnet can be disabled by taking the server at the hardcoded address offline. The Glupteba malware, however, instructs infected computers to look for the addresses of its C2 servers by referencing transactions associated with specific accounts on the Bitcoin blockchain. The blockchain is not controlled by any central authority, and each transaction is disseminated to and viewable by any user on the blockchain.” states the court owner. “These features make the Glupteba botnet unusually resistant to disruption. If the botnet’s C2 servers are disabled, then its operators can simply set up new servers and broadcast their addresses on the blockchain.”

The IT giant won a lawsuit filed against two Russian nationals involved in the operations of the botnet, the court’s ruling sets an important legal precedent in the fight against cybercrime.

In December 2021, the company’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) shared the actions it took to disrupt the operations of the Glupteba botnet and announced it has filed a case in the Southern District of New York against its operators.

Google Glupteba botnet

“This week, we were pleased to see the end to a nearly year-long legal battle against the Glupteba botnet” reads the announcement published by Google. “We made the explicit decision to name the criminal actors behind Glupteba as defendants in the suit, to expose them and their various shell companies. This is not a common tactic, but we felt it was important to try and disrupt their ability to operate covertly online.”

The U.S. District Court issued monetary sanctions against both the Russian-based defendants and their US-based lawyer and required them to pay the legal fees to Google.

“In exchange, the Defendants would receive Google’s agreement not to report them to law enforcement, and a payment of $1 million per defendant, plus $110,000 in attorney’s fees. The Defendants stated that, although they do not currently have access to the private keys, Valtron would be willing to provide them with the private keys if the case were settled.” continues the court order.

The sentence is considered very important and demonstrates that crooks can have monetary consequences for engaging in cyber criminal activities like this one.

It is now clear that the Defendants appeared in this Court not to proceed in good faith to defend against Google’s claims but with the intent to abuse the court system and discovery rules to reap a profit from Google,” said Federal Judge Denise Cote in her decision Tuesday.

Google pointed out that Glupteba operators have resumed activity using platforms and IoT devices that are not operated by Google. However, the company confirmed that its operation caused a 78% reduction in the number of infected hosts.

“But there’s a lot more work to be done. Legal cases that expose the criminal elements behind these types of operations are just one tool that Google uses to protect our services and the people and businesses who use them.” concludes the announcement.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

[adrotate banner=”9″][adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Glupteba botnet)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

Cybercrime Glupteba botnet Hacking hacking news information security news IT Information Security malware Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 14, 2025
Interlock ransomware group deploys new PHP-based RAT via FileFix
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 14, 2025
Global Louis Vuitton data breach impacts UK, South Korea, and Turkey
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Interlock ransomware group deploys new PHP-based RAT via FileFix

    Cyber Crime / July 14, 2025

    Global Louis Vuitton data breach impacts UK, South Korea, and Turkey

    Data Breach / July 14, 2025

    Experts uncover critical flaws in Kigen eSIM technology affecting billions

    Security / July 14, 2025

    Spain awarded €12.3 million in contracts to Huawei

    Intelligence / July 14, 2025

    Patch immediately: CVE-2025-25257 PoC enables remote code execution on Fortinet FortiWeb

    Security / July 13, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT