For the past four years, a sprawling, shadow-network of Android-based TV boxes has been operating in millions of living rooms across the globe. Unbeknownst to their owners, these devices—often purchased as cheap, plug-and-play solutions for streaming subscription content—have been surreptitiously enlisted into a sophisticated botnet known as Popa. Unlike the destructive botnets of the past,…
In a significant blow to the cybercrime ecosystem, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has successfully seized hundreds of domains associated with NetNut, a sprawling residential proxy service operated by the publicly traded Israeli company Alarum Technologies [NASDAQ: ALAR]. The takedown, executed in coordination with the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and a coalition…
For the past four years, a sprawling, shadow-like infrastructure known as Popa has operated beneath the radar of mainstream cybersecurity, turning millions of consumer Android TV boxes into involuntary relay stations for malicious internet traffic. While the name may not carry the notoriety of high-profile ransomware gangs, its reach is vast. Security researchers have now…
