Chinese police have arrested at least nine in a ring of hackers responsible for the “Fireball” malware that infected about 20 percent of corporate networks worldwide, or about 250 million computers, Mashable reports, citing state-run news outlets.
The accused hackers were employed at a digital marketing company in Beijing called Rafotech, and raked in close to $12 million after generating fake clicks and traffic to other websites through the scam, which was likely spread through spam, or pirated apps.
If estimates are correct, the reach of “Fireball” extends far beyond the Mirai botnet, which infected half a million computers, or the WannaCry ransomware attack, which infected an estimated 200,000.
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