Alexander J Martin, technology reporter
Cyber criminals based primarily in Russia hijacked ads on Pornhub to infect viewers’ computers with malware, causing millions of dollars in damages, according to a US indictment.
The criminals controlled more than 1.7 million infected computers, which were used without their owners’ knowledge to secretly load advertisements that they were collecting the revenue from, the US Department Of Justice has said.
Eight men – six from Russia and two from Kazakhstan – have been charged with cyber crimes. Three are awaiting extradition, while the others remain at large.
According to the unsealed indictment, businesses were left paying out more than $29m (£23m) for ads which were never viewed by real human internet users.
Also unsealed were seizure warrants allowing the FBI to take control of 31 internet domains and take information from 89 computer servers to shut down the botnet globally.
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