<h1><font size="2">UNITED STATES: FTC Shuts Down Notorious Rogue Internet Service Provider</font></h1><em class="light"><a href="http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=sa&id=1675">http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=sa&id=1675</a><br>
Sunday, June 07, 2009</em><br><br><font size="2"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="2"><font size="2">
</font></font></font><p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="2"><font size="2"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><strong>FTC
Shuts Down Notorious Rogue Internet Service Provider, 3FN Service
Specializes in Hosting Spam-Spewing Botnets, Phishing Web sites, Child
Pornography, and Other Illegal, Malicious Web Content</strong></font></font></font></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="2"><font size="2"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">A rogue Internet Service Provider that recruits, knowingly </font></font></font></font></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">hosts,
and actively participates in the distribution of spam, child
pornography, and other harmful electronic content has been shut down by
a district court judge at the request of the Federal Trade Commission.
The ISP''s upstream providers and data centers have disconnected its
servers from the Internet. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">According to
the FTC, the defendant, Pricewert LLC, which does business under a
variety of names including 3FN and APS Telecom, actively recruits and
colludes with criminals seeking to distribute illegal, malicious, and
harmful electronic content including child pornography, spyware,
viruses, trojan horses, phishing, botnet command and control servers,
and pornography featuring violence, bestiality, and incest. The FTC
alleges that the defendant advertised its services in the darkest
corners of the Internet, including a forum established to facilitate
communication between criminals.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The
complaint alleges that Pricewert actively shielded its criminal
clientele by either ignoring take-down requests issued by the online
security community, or shifting its criminal elements to other Internet
protocol addresses it controlled to evade detection. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The FTC also
alleges that the defendant engaged in the deployment and operation of
botnets - large networks of computers that have been compromised and
enslaved by the originator of the botnet, known as a "bot herder."
Botnets can be used for a variety of illicit purposes, including
sending spam and launching denial of service attacks. According to the
FTC, the defendant recruited bot herders and hosted the
command-and-control servers - the computers that relay commands from
the bot herders to the compromised computers known as "zombie drones."
Transcripts of instant-message logs filed with the district court show
the defendants" senior employees discussing the configuration of
botnets with bot herders. And, in filings with the district court, the
FTC alleges that more than 4,500 malicious software programs are
controlled by command-and-control servers hosted by 3FN. This malware
includes programs capable of keystroke logging, password stealing, and
data stealing, programs with hidden backdoor remote control activity,
and programs involved in spam distribution.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The FTC
charged that the defendants'' distribution of illegal, malicious, and
harmful content and deployment of botnets that compromised thousands of
computers caused substantial consumer injury and was an unfair
practice, in violation of federal law. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The court
issued a temporary restraining order to prohibit Pricewert''s illegal
activities and require its upstream Internet providers and data centers
to cease providing services to Pricewert. The order also freezes
Pricewert''s assets. The court will hold a preliminary injunction
hearing on June 15, 2009. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">This case
was brought with the invaluable assistance of NASA''s Office of
Inspector General, Computer Crime Division; Gary Warner, Director of
Research in Computer Forensics, University of Alabama at Birmingham;
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; The
Shadowserver Foundation; Symantec Corporation; and The Spamhaus Project.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The
Commission vote to authorize staff to file the complaint was 4-0. The
complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of California, San Jose Division.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><strong>NOTE:</strong>
The Commission files a complaint when it has "reason to believe" that
the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission
that a proceeding is in the public interest. The complaint is not a
finding or ruling that the defendant has actually violated the law. The
case will be decided by the court. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">By the U.S. Federal Trade Commission<br></font></p></font>
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