Feds Seize Domains in Global Proxy Botnet Crackdown

Russian, Kazakh Hackers Charged in $46M Proxy Botnet Scheme Chris Riotta (@chrisriotta) • May 9, 2025

U.S. federal prosecutors charged four hackers from Russia and Kazakhstan with conspiracy and computer crimes after they allegedly made more than $46 million by selling access to infected routers tied to a global botnet.

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The Department of Justice announced Friday it had seized the domains Anyproxy.net and 5socks.net after court documents revealed the sites had sold thousands of proxies worldwide and in the United States since 2004. FBI investigators in Oklahoma City found local residential and business routers had been infected with malware without users’ knowledge, allowing them to be reconfigured and sold as proxy servers on the sites ...