LOCKED GATES

Microsoft Gets Go-Ahead to Dismantle Massive Russian Botnet That Could Threaten Election

The Trickbot botnet is a network of an estimated one million computers infected by a type of malware that can steal confidential data.

Microsoft has been given the go-ahead to break up a sprawling botnet run by Russian criminals who pose a “theoretical but real” threat to next month’s U.S. presidential election, The Washington Post reports. The company is said to have obtained an order from a federal judge that gives it control of the Trickbot botnet—a network of an estimated one million computers infected by a type of malware that can be controlled remotely to steal financial and personal data. The network couldn’t necessarily change an election result, but Microsoft believes it could damage confidence in election systems if they’re breached. Tom Burt, Microsoft’s vice president of customer security, explained: “Having just a few precincts report that they got disrupted and locked up and people couldn’t vote or their ballots can’t be counted—it’d just be pouring kerosene on the fire.”