Another victory has been won in the battle against spam, malware and malicious websites today as the US Federal Trade Commission has shut down Belize-based ISP 3FN.
Claims of the company’s servers being used for phishing attacks, botnets and images of child abuse have resulted in the company’s assets being seized and their servers being sold off.
The company must also pay back $1.08m they have reportedly made from criminal activities.
This is an action that began in June last year but will it result in a significant reduction in spam and cyber-crime? Sadly criminals are usually back up and running in only a few short weeks, but the setback of the loss of all their equipment is a significant blow that has the potential to put them out of business permanently.
The US courts have led the way in dealing with cyber-criminals, in part because so many of them are US-based, but it’s good to see swift action being taken and assets being confiscated.
The Internet being what it is, it is an enormous playground for criminals, equivalent to a pick-pocket attending a huge Woodstock concert that’s full of stoned people. We can be certain that cyber-criminals will be prevalent on the internet for some considerable number of years to come.
As always our advice here is to make certain your anti-virus and anti-malware products are up to date and running properly.
