Botnets are network of bots, which can be considered "zombified" devices that have been enslaved by some malicious actors to do their dirty deeds.
By controlling and deploying botnets, which can consist of computers to IoT devices, the malicious actors can attack targets from halfway across the globe, disrupt certain online services, and also do other malicious things, like mining cryptocurrencies without their victims' consent.
Because botnets usually come in huge numbers, the operators of the botnet can have an unusually high power to launch large-scale ransomware or other attacks to cripple targets.
And this time, Google said that it has terminated a network of about 1 million hijacked electronic devices used worldwide to commit online crimes.
Google didn't just stopped the network of botnets from operating, as the company is also suing Russia-based hackers the tech giant claimed were responsible.
Cybersecurity experts first discovered the existence of this Glupteba in 2011.
At the time, it was found that the group worked by spreading malware that are masqueraded as free, downloadable software, videos or movies that people unwittingly download onto their devices.
Once downloaded and run, the malware would infect its host, and turn it into one of the botnets.
However, unlike conventional botnets that rely on predetermined channels to ensure their survival, Glupteba is programmed to find a replacement server in order to keep operating even after being attacked, said Google in the lawsuit.
To do this, the group "uses Google advertisements to post job openings for the websites" to carry out the illegal work.
The operators also used Google's own services to distribute the malware, including through some 63 million Google Docs files and more than 1,100 Google accounts.
This way, the operations can "recover more quickly from disruptions, making them that much harder to shutdown," said Google
"Glupteba is notorious for stealing users’ credentials and data, mining cryptocurrencies on infected hosts, and setting up proxies to funnel other people’s internet traffic through infected machines and routers," Google’s general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado and Google vice president of engineering Royal Hansen wrote in a blog post.
"We are working closely with industry and government as we combat this type of behaviour."
Google is a company that works with the web.
Due to its place on the internet, and also because of its size and influence, Google has the responsibility to at least help other researchers battle cybercrimes.
And this time, Google did what it thinks is necessary.
The company filed a lawsuit in a New York federal court against Dmitry Starovikov and Alexander Filippov, blaming them for creating "a modern technological and borderless incarnation of organised crime.”
At the same time, the company is also suing 15 other unnamed individuals.
Google said that it was bringing the action under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, as well as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Electronic Communications Privacy Act and others, to disrupt the botnet, prevent it from causing further harm, and to recover damages.
Through the lawsuit, the company is seeking an injunction to block them from wrongdoing on its platforms, and in order to "create a legal liability for the cyber criminals," and to also bring "to light their identities and the infrastructure they are using."
It's worth noting that this is the first time that Google is going after botnet operators through a lawsuit, a spokesperson for the Mountain View, California-based company said in an email.
"We are taking this action to further protect internet users and to send a message to cyber criminals that we will not tolerate this type of activity."
It has been for a long time that the West is blaming Russia for its many notorious cybercriminal gangs, accusing it for providing them with safe haven. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied responsibility for any hacking attacks.