• Shutting the Door on the XCPE Botnet (Threat Intelligence)

    From LWN.net@86:200/23 to All on Tue Nov 3 06:40:09 2026
    The Google Threat Intelligence blog describes,
    in great detail, the XCPE botnet, which has just been taken down.

    Last week, Google and industry partners dismantled the XCPE
    backdoor which enrolled more than 1.3 million set-top boxes into a
    botnet. We assess with high confidence that the backdoor and botnet
    were intentionally developed, deployed, and operated for financial
    gain by Videostrong Technology Co., an Android Original Equipment
    Manufacturer (OEM) and Original Device Manufacturer (ODM).

    Videostrong monetized the backdoor by selling access to criminal
    affiliates and loading those affiliates' malware modules onto
    infected devices. These secondary modules were conducting ad-fraud;
    silently enrolling infected devices into residential proxy
    networks; and loading additional malware onto XCPE-compromised
    devices.

    https://lwn.net/Articles/1104847/
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