The Dutch take down Bredolab botnet

The High Tech Crime Team of the Dutch National Crime Squad has seized 143 Bredolab command and control servers and effectively shut down the botnet that controlled 30 million computers, according to the country’s public prosecutor’s web site.

The takedown was a cooperative venture that also involved a Dutch hosting provider, the Dutch Forensic Institute, Internet security company Fox IT and GOVCERT.NL (the Dutch computer emergency response team.)

According to the account on the web site of the Public Prosecutor (Openbaar Ministerie): “The botnet network used servers hired in the Netherlands from a reseller of LeaseWeb, which is the largest hosting provider in the Netherlands, and one of the largest hosts in Europe. LeaseWeb fully cooperated in eradicating the issue from its network, as part of its Community Outreach program. The Dutch High Tech Crime Team discovered this botnet system in the late summer. During its investigation, the Team determined that the network was capable of infecting 3 million computers a month. At the end of 2009 it was estimated that 3.6 billion emails with Bredolab virus payloads were sent daily to unsuspecting computer users.”

Public Prosecutor release here: "Dutch National Crime Squad announces takedown of dangerous botnet"

Thanks Nicholas

Tom Kelchner