As previously reported by Infosecurity, Microsoft led the effort this past February to take the Waledec botnet offline. Now a judge from the US District Court of Eastern Virginia has signaled his recommendation that Microsoft be granted permanent ownership of the 276 domains linked to Waledec in response to a motion filed by the company in February.
Microsoft, in cooperation with industry experts and academics, successfully led an operation to halt the botnet earlier this year, an assault labeled as Operation b49 that was detailed in a previous Infosecurity feature.
According to reports from both the USA Today and the official Microsoft blog, the District Court judge in charge of the case will now issue a report recommending a default judgment in the company’s favor, leaving the defendants in the case 14 days to object before the ruling is made final.
A response from the owners of the 276 domains, however, is highly unlikely said Microsoft in its official blog, “given the nature of the operation and the fact that they have not yet presented a defense in court to date”.
“It’s open season on botnets”, said Microsoft senior attorney Richard Boscovich in comments to the USA Today. “The hunting licenses have been handed out, and we’re coming back for more.”
In addition to its efforts in fighting botnets, Microsoft said it will also focus on cleaning up machines infected by Waledec, as the company is working with CERTs and ISPs to notify affected customers about how to remove the infection. To this end, Microsoft has created a website to help those affected by the Waledec botnet clean their computers.