On March 26th, 2012, Nick Wingfield and Nicole Perlroth reported for the New York Times on how Microsoft employees disrupted Zeus, one of the world's biggest botnets.  A botnet is a group of zombie computers that help cybercriminals steal personal information.  According to the article, Microsoft raided two office buildings in Scranton, Penn., with the help of federal marshals operating under a warrant.  The raid came out of a recent civil suit brought by Microsoft.  Microsoft apparently deactivated the servers used by the botnet and seized control of several hundred Web addresses. 

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David Goldman elaborated on the Microsoft story for CNN.  Interestingly, Microsoft filed a civil suit against the cybercriminals on March 19th, and got a warrant to go after the servers on March 23rd.  That is a very quick turnaround.

How did Microsoft manage it?  The article explained that Microsoft based "its petition for warrant on the [RICO] Act, typically used against the Mafia."

On March 26th, 2012, Nick Wingfield and Nicole Perlroth reported for the New York Times on how Microsoft employees disrupted Zeus, one of the world's biggest botnets.  A botnet is a group of zombie computers that help cybercriminals steal personal information.  According to the article, Microsoft raided two office buildings in Scranton, Penn., with the help of federal marshals operating under a warrant.  The raid came out of a recent civil suit brought by Microsoft.  Microsoft apparently deactivated the servers used by the botnet and seized control of several hundred Web addresses. 

***

David Goldman elaborated on the Microsoft story for CNN.  Interestingly, Microsoft filed a civil suit against the cybercriminals on March 19th, and got a warrant to go after the servers on March 23rd.  That is a very quick turnaround.

How did Microsoft manage it?  The article explained that Microsoft based "its petition for warrant on the [RICO] Act, typically used against the Mafia."