The operation to knock offline command-and-control servers for a global botnet that uses an infrastructure known as Trickbot to infect computers with malware was initiated with an order that Microsoft obtained in Virginia federal court on Oct. 6. Microsoft argued that the crime network is abusing its trademark.
"It is very hard to tell how effective it will be but we are confident it will have a very long-lasting effect," said Jean-Ian Boutin, head of threat research at ESET, one of several cybersecurity firms that partnered with Microsoft to mthe command-and-control servers. "We're sure that they are going to notice and it will be hard for them to get back to the state that the botnet was in."
Cybersecurity experts said that Microsoft's use of a U.S. court order to persuade internet providers to take down the botnet servers is laudable. But they add that it's not apt to be successful because too many won't comply and because Trickbot's operators have a decentralized fall-back system and employ encrypted routing.
Paul Vixie of Farsight Security said via email "experience tells me it won't scale - there are too many IP's behind uncooperative national borders." And the cybersecurity firm Intel 471 reported no significant hit on Trickbot operations Monday ..
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