Back in November, I talked about “zombie computers,” those which had been infected to do the bidding of a master computer, usually to SPAM others. The discussion was about how that type of infection was a usual suspect in a “slow computer.”

Some good news was found in my reading this morning: A Spanish man, who controlled a huge zombie network, has been busted. From the UK Register:

As previously reported, the Mariposa botnet was principally geared towards stealing online login credentials for banks, email services and the like from compromised Windows PCs. The malware infected an estimated 12.7 million computers in more than 190 countries.

The botnet was shut down on 23 December 2009 following months of collaboration between security firms Panda Security and Defence Intelligence in co-operation with the FBI and Spain‘s Guardia Civil.

One down, more to go, but good news to know many organizations are working hard in the background to make the net safer and free of such threats.