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The U.S. Department of Justice announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation took down the network and infrastructure of a botnet proxy service called IPStorm.
IPStorm is a proxy botnet that enables cybercriminals to run malicious traffic anonymously through Windows, Linux, Mac, and Android devices all over the world.
Sergei Makinin, a Russian-Moldovan national, pleaded guilty to three counts relevant to computer fraud and now faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The victims of IPStorm, not only became cybercrime facilitators unknowingly but also suffered the consequences of having their network bandwidth hijacked by malicious actors and risked receiving more dangerous payloads at any time.
Makinin’s proxying service was offered through the websites ‘proxx.io’ and ‘proxx.net,’ where it was advertised that it provided over 23,000 anonymous proxies worldwide.
From at least June 2019 through December 2022, Makinin developed and deployed malicious software to hack thousands of Internet-connected devices around the world, including in Puerto Rico. The main purpose of the botnet was to turn infected devices into proxies.
Makinin admitted that he made a profit of at least $550,000 from the proxy services he sold to others and agreed to forfeit cryptocurrency wallets holding the crime proceeds.
The law enforcement operation to dismantle the IPStorm botnet have not extended to victim computers.
