Security News > 2022 > June > Russian RSocks botnet disrupted after hacking millions of devices
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the disruption of the Russian RSocks malware botnet used to hijack millions of computers, Android smartphones, and IoT devices worldwide for use as proxy servers.
A botnet is a swarm of devices that threat actors can remotely control to perform various behavior, including DDoS attacks, crypto mining, and deploying additional malware.
RSocks allegedly compromised these devices by brute-forcing their passwords and installing software on the breached computers to turn them into proxy servers.
While RSocks operation has been severely disrupted as a result of this international law enforcement operation, no arrests have been announced this time.
Botnets are a constant and shape-shifting threat to poorly secured devices such as routers and other internet-connected "Smart" IoT devices that are often neglected and left to operate unsupervised for extended periods.
To protect IoT devices, owners should always change the default administrator password to something stronger that's hard to brute-force, apply the latest available firmware updates, and set up a separate network for IoTs, which are isolated from critical devices.