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Geographic distribution of infections.

 BITSIGHT

Microsoft and partners have announced a major breakthrough in the fight against hackers today (March 10), with the takedown of the prolific Necurs botnet. This automated network infected as many as nine million computers, used as endpoints to distribute dangerous emails and malware. Between 2016 and 2019, the Nucurs network was likely responsible for 90% of the world’s email-distributed malware.

This takedown came as a result of “eight years of tracking and planning,” Microsoft says, and involved its Digital Crimes Unit, BitSight, and other partners across 35 countries. In a separate announcement, BitSight claims the action has impacted “all [eleven] Necurs botnets,” networks that have appeared dormant for around 12 months—longer than ever before, but which have left 2 million systems infected. 

Taking spam email as an example of the scale of threat here, Necurs targeted victims “in nearly every country in the world. During a 58-day period in our investigation,” Microsoft says, “we observed that one Necurs-infected computer sent a total of 3.8 million spam emails to over 40.6 million potential victims.” The action taken, it says, “helps ensure the criminals behind this network are no longer able to use key elements of its infrastructure to execute cyberattacks.”

Today In: Cybersecurity

Botnets—or networks of bots—are large numbers of compromised computers that then become connected endpoints through which a criminal activity can take place. In essence, your PC becomes a tool for the criminal network to use, including dropping malware (such as GameOver Zeus, Dridex, Locky and Trickbot), sending spam emails, romance and financial scams, credential theft and cryptomining.

Back in 2017, IBM said of Necurs that “it militarizes up to 6 million zombie endpoints, delivers some of the worst banking trojans and ransomware threats in batches of millions of emails at a time, and keeps reinventing itself... Necurs is indirectly responsible for a major chunk of cybercrime and the losses it produces.”

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The operators behind the Necurs botnet are believed to be Russian and have been using the platform for their own campaigns as well as renting out its capabilities to other criminals. Microsoft hit Necurs by killing millions of domains the malware would automatically generate and register to continually move its command and control servers away from prying eyes, remaining operational for years.

Microsoft says that it accurately predicted “over six million unique domains that would be created in the next 25 months.” These were then reported to the relevant registries and blocked, thus the disruption. The tech giant also secured a court order “to take control of U.S.-based infrastructure Necurs uses to distribute malware and infect victim computers.” Put simply, Microsoft intercepted and blocked the operational infrastructure at the heart of the botnet, starving it of oxygen.

Now the job of work is cleaning up the mess that Necurs and its hacker operators have left behind. Microsoft is working with ISPs and enforcement agencies around the world “to rid their customers’ computers of malware associated with the botnet.

The operators behind the Necurs botnet are believed to be Russian and have been using the platform for their own campaigns as well as renting out its capabilities to other criminals. Microsoft hit Necurs by killing millions of domains the malware would automatically generate and register to continually move its command and control servers away from prying eyes, remaining operational for years.

Microsoft says that it accurately predicted “over six million unique domains that would be created in the next 25 months.” These were then reported to the relevant registries and blocked, thus the disruption. The tech giant also secured a court order “to take control of U.S.-based infrastructure Necurs uses to distribute malware and infect victim computers.” Put simply, Microsoft intercepted and blocked the operational infrastructure at the heart of the botnet, starving it of oxygen.

Now the job of work is cleaning up the mess that Necurs and its hacker operators have left behind. Microsoft is working with ISPs and enforcement agencies around the world “to rid their customers’ computers of malware associated with the botnet.

Shed By WeWork, Meetup’s New Owners Recast A Social Platform For A World Without Gatherings

Group meeting business Meetup was sold by WeWork to Kevin Ryan's AlleyCorp (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

 ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kevin Ryan can’t leave his home right now but that didn’t stop him from closing a deal for a business that fosters in-person meetings. 

Ryan’s AlleyCorp. and a group of private investors bought a majority stake in Meetup from WeWork, the companies said Monday with Ryan set to join as chairman of the 18-year-old affinity group company, which delivered its first profit in five years in February. Ryan wasn’t immediately available for an interview.

“Regardless of whether coronavirus happened or not, Kevin would have acquired the company,” said Meetup CEO David Siegel, who has known Ryan for 20 years, since he worked for the investor at DoubleClick. “He has more confidence in the underlying business dynamic.”

A time of widespread social lockdown may seem like an odd time to buy a business based on getting people together, with more than 49 million members globally who before social distancing mandates participated in about 15,000 in-person events daily. The company collects revenue from fees paid by members to “organizers” of interest-groups, who meet for activities such as hiking or walking, or to learn how to use javascript. It also has an enterprise product for business and entrepreneur meetings, which counts Adobe, Google, Microsoft Azure, IBM and Twitter among its clients.

Today In: Enterprise Tech

WeWork acquired Meetup for $156 million in 2017 and put the company up for sale after its failed public offering last year. Siegel said that he had consulted dozens of interested buyers, but in the past four to six weeks, Ryan emerged as a formidable bidder whose position strengthened as some investors withdrew interest as the coronavirus became prominent.

Siegel declined to disclose the acquisition value except to say it was “less than” what WeWork paid. It was among several assets WeWork put up for sale or closed last year after the IPO debacle forced the company to refocus on its core business of subleasing office space. It has since sold or closed other businesses at significant loss; Managed by Q, a facilities management startup, sold this month for $25 million, almost $200 million below its acquisition value; in December it closed Spacious, a co-working startup that used vacant restaurants, four months after acquiring it.

Rohit Dave, WeWork’s head of corporate development, said in a statement that the sale “aligns with WeWork's renewed focus on the company's core workspace business.”

Founded in 2002 in the wake of 9/11, Meetup was among the first companies to build out an online social media network to arrange in-person meetings, before Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms rose to prominence. It raised $18.6 million from investors such as Union Square Ventures, DFJ and Gary Vaynerchuk before it was acquired by WeWork.

The two companies had existing synergies: thousands of Meetup gatherings were occurring in WeWork’s locations. It also helped that WeWork was splashing vast sums of cash on acquisitions as its valuation skyrocketed.

“It’s like a magical puzzle that fits together,” Scott Heiferman, Meetup’s co-founder and then-CEO said at the time of joining WeWork’s portfolio. Announcing the acquisition, WeWork co-founder Adam Neuman wrote, “Meetup was founded in New York City about 15 years ago, and was born from a simple but powerful idea: Use the internet to get people off the internet.”

But after WeWork’s implosion last year, Meetup was forced to restructure and shed 25% of its workforce. Since then, it has attempted to chart its way forward and find a new owner. Then coronavirus hit at the core of its business, leading Siegel to start hosting online meetings using video conferences. He said WeWork poured a lot of money into the business — at times “too much” — which may have kept the company from refining its product before scaling, including its move to online meetings. 

Making those changes is now a priority, including allowing gatherings to occur online using video chat rooms. While Meetup has not banned in-person gatherings being organized through its site, Siegel said it has discouraged such meetings. A spokesperson added that the company generated “over $35 million” revenue in 2019, and is still on track for “double digit” growth in 2020.