The folks behind a well-known botnet used for blackmail spam and other garbage that clogs up your inbox got a taste of their own medicine.
Someone hacked the malware and notices started popping up on infected computers letting users know they’d been infected and needed to run an antivirus program.
The Phorpiex botnet has been around for years and has sent out billions of pieces of spam. Once it gets on your PC, it then uses your computer to help send out malware. The developers make their money by working for cybercriminals and sending out spam campaigns on their behalf. Basically, they’re a marketing company for crooks.
Most recently, Phorpiex was in the news for and extortion campaign where the criminals claim to have sexually explicit photos of you that they’ll share unless you pay them.
According to security researchers at Checkpoint, it appears the malware has been hijacked and instructed to uninstall itself. Infected users are also left with a warning to install antivirus and check their system.
The person behind this hacking isn’t necessarily a good guy. It could be other cybercriminals who are jealous of Phorpiex’s success. It could also be law enforcement or just some good-guy hackers. But whoever is behind it, it’s nice to see these crooks be on the receiving end.