Shadow Botnet Shut Down

Dutch police have smashed the Shadow botnet, thought to have infected over 100,000 computers, and arrested two men.

You might not have heard of the Shadow botnet, but it was believed to have infected over 100,000 computers globally, using them to spread spam and malware.

That’s in the past tense now. The Dutch High Tech Crime Unit has shut down Shadow and arrested two people, one a 19-year-old Dutch national who ran it, the other a Brazilian who was negotiating the use of it. The police have asked Kaspersky Labs to help shut the network down.

According to Vnunet, a spokesman for the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said:

"The Public Prosecution Service and the police worked together with Kaspersky Lab on this case with full contentment."

Dutch police, who worked with the FBI on the case, are asking those infected to contact them and make a complaint.

Meanwhile, Kaspersky has put up a web page showing people how to rid themselves of the malware.