The "Coreflood" botnet is believed to have operated for nearly a decade and to have infected more than two million computers around the world, the Justice Department and FBI said in a joint statement.
They said charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal interception of electronic communications had been filed against 13 suspects identified in court papers only as John Doe 1, John Doe 2, etc.
The complaint said they were all "foreign nationals" but provided no further information about their identities or nationalities.
Five "command and control" computer servers and 29 Internet domain names were seized as part of the operation, described as the "most complete and comprehensive enforcement action ever taken by US authorities to disable an international botnet."
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Cyber Defense
The US military is preparing for 21st Century electronic warfare and cyber terrorism. A joint US Cyber Command and four service cyber commands have been set up.
Their mission is to defend American military networks and civilian American infrastructure from cyber terrorism and from foreign government hackers.
The officers leading these cyber commands explain how they are organized, how they operate, and how they will protect the United States from foreign military hackers, intelligence agencies, and cyber terrorists.
