Pricewert is done
A federal judge in California has permanently shut down the 3FN ISP.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in a news release today that 3FN “recruited, hosted, and actively participated in the distribution of spam, spyware, child pornography, and other malicious and illegal content. The ISP’s computer servers and other assets have been seized and will be sold by a court-appointed receiver, and the operation has been ordered to turn over $1.08 million in ill-gotten gains to the FTC.”
The defendants named in the action are Pricewert LLC which was doing business as 3FN.net, Triple Fiber Network, APS Telecom, APX Telecom, APS Communications, and APS Communication.)
The news release also said: “Transcripts of instant-message logs filed with the district court show the defendants’ senior employees discussing the configuration of botnets with bot herders. And, in filings with the district court, the FTC alleged that more than 4,500 malicious software programs were controlled by command-and-control servers hosted by 3FN. This malware included programs capable of keystroke logging, password stealing, and data theft, programs with hidden backdoor remote control activity, and programs involved in spam distribution.”
Our blog piece from last year: “The Internet is a safer place (well, slightly) as FTC shuts down crime-hosting N. Calif. ISP”
FTC news release: “FTC Permanently Shuts Down Notorious Rogue Internet Service Provider”
Tom Kelchner