‘Popa’ Botnet Linked to Publicly-Traded Israeli Firm
Brief
For the past four years, a sprawling Android-based botnet called Popa has forced millions of consumer TV boxes to relay Internet traffic linked to advertising fraud, account takeovers, and mass data-scraping efforts.
This week, researchers from multiple security firms concluded that the Popa botnet is linked to NetNut , a “residential proxy” provider operated by the publicly-traded Israeli firm Alarum Technologies Ltd [NASDAQ: ALAR].
Malicious streaming devices sold online that enroll the user’s home Internet address in a residential proxy service. Image: HUMAN Security.
Popa is a massive botnet, but by all accounts it is unlike traditional botnets that enlist compromised systems in destructive activities, such as coordinating huge distributed denial-of-service attacks.