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Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

NetNut cracked as Google and FBI target 2 million-device botnet

Tech companies working with US law enforcement "significantly degraded" the NetNut residential proxy network as part of an ongoing effort to disrupt the tools cybercriminals use to conceal their activity, say researchers.

The work was carried out by Google, Lumen, Shadowserver, the FBI, and others, and marks a continuation of the IPIDEA proxy network disruption from January.

According to Google Cloud, those working on the operation believe NetNut was among the most popular residential proxy network providers and had at least 2 million devices enrolled in its botnet, comprising mainly small TV-streaming hardware. Crims often use residential proxy networks to make it look like their traffic is actually coming from legit homes and businesses.

In the same way that other residential proxy networks expand their pool of enrolled devices, NetNut distributed its own SDK via these devices.

Proxy providers often approach users under the guise of monetizing their spare bandwidth, paying them a fee in exchange for letting their SDK run on their devices.

Original Submission

1. "Arthur T Knackerbracket" - https://soylentnews.org/~Arthur+T+Knackerbracket/
2. "NetNut cracked as Google and FBI target 2 million-device botnet" - https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/07/03/netnut-cracked-as-google-and-fbi-target-2-million-device-botnet/5266414
3. "IPIDEA proxy network disruption" - https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/01/29/google-cripples-ipidea-proxy-network-abused-by-crims/5050674
4. "Google" - https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/google-continued-disruption-residential-proxy-networks/
5. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=69214

printed from SoylentNews, NetNut Cracked As Google And FBI Target 2 Million-Device Botnet on 2026-07-13 07:17:02