U.S. Arrests 911 S5 Botnet Mastermind, Sanctions Three for Cybercrime
The U.S. Department of Justice has arrested Yunhe Wang, the primary administrator of the notorious 911 S5 botnet. This follows a Treasury Department action that sanctioned Wang and two others for allegedly operating the online anonymity service, which was used to steal billions of dollars from financial institutions and pandemic relief programs.
911 S5 sold access to hundreds of thousands of Microsoft Windows computers daily, using them as proxies to route internet traffic. The service, which was popular among cybercriminals, was built by offering free virtual private networking services. It encouraged the installation of its proxy malware by any means available, including paying affiliates.
After 911 S5 closed, it resurfaced under the name Cloud Router, powered by a new VPN service called PaladinVPN. Jingping Liu and Yanni Zheng were also sanctioned for their roles in laundering proceeds from the operation. Despite the arrests and sanctions, no publicly available information identifies any person currently registered by US authorities as a user of MaskVPN and DewVPN services used in the 911 S5 botnet operation.
The arrest of Yunhe Wang and the sanctions against him and two others send a strong message that the U.S. will not tolerate the use of online anonymity services for criminal activities. The investigation continues, and further developments are expected.
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