With a US District Court in East Virginia backing Microsoft’s attempts to stall the spread of the Nitol Botnet, by granting permission to the company’s Digital Crime Unit to go for the distributors of the Botnet, Microsoft has revealed in a recent announcement that it has taken the necessary action for the disruption of the malware.

The court’s permission to Microsoft was based on the disclosure that the company’s supply chain was being infiltrated by cybercriminals; and Microsoft’s announcement about the disruption of the botnet marked the culmination of the company’s operation codenamed “b70.”

The operation was launched by Microsoft after an investigation into the unsecure supply chain disclosed some pertinent information with regard to the distribution of counterfeit software by computer resellers in China.

About the operation, Richard Domingues Boscovich - Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit’s assistant general counsel – said in a blog post that the court first granted Microsoft an ex parte temporary restraining order against Chinese businessman Peng Yong and his Changzhou-based Internet services company; and Microsoft later stopped the spread of Nitol by taking control of 3322. org --- the domain which hosted the botnet and its “nearly 70,000 other malicious subdomains.”

However, with Microsoft’s ongoing fight with Nitol Botnet underscoring that weaknesses in computer supply chains, particularly in less regulated markets like China, increase the vulnerability of Internet users to cyberattacks, the software giant has requested distributors, retailers, and resellers to ensure the legitimacy of the sources from which they purchase computers for sale to consumers.