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UK government computers roped in for 2m-strong botnet

UK government computers are part of a botnet consisting of nearly two million machines, which have had their online security hampered by cyber crooks controlling it, a security firm has said.

Finjan has announced the discovery of a network of 1.9 million infected machines, which the firm says is "one of the largest bot networks controlled by a single team of cybercriminals" or gang the firm has discovered this year.

In a blog posting on its site, the company highlighted how the network and malware contained therein are being used by crooks to make money, which is the main driver of such criminal activity.

Speaking to the BBC, Finjan chief technology officer Yuval Ben-Itzhak said it was shocking to discover government computers on the botnet.

He told the news provider: "When we looked at the network domain names to see where the [compromised PCs] come from we were surprised to see many government networks, including UK government computers."

The Metropolitan Police also admitted to the BBC through a spokesperson that it was aware of the botnet and said "appropriate action" was being taken to handle the matter.

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