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A district court judge has shut down rogue ISP 3FN permanently at the request of the Federal Trade Commission.
If the name 3FN sounds familiar, it is because the FTC accused it in June 2009 of recruiting and collaborating with criminals to distribute malware and pornography. The FTC alleged that 3FN shielded cyber-criminals by ignoring take-down requests from the online security community and shifting criminal elements to other IP addresses it controlled to evade detection.
According to the FTC, 3FN recruited bot herders and hosted the command-and-control servers.
On June 15, 2009, the court issued a preliminary injunction against 3FN and required its upstream Internet providers and data centers to stop providing services to the company. The court has now ordered a permanent bar on the illegal activities of 3FN and appointed a receiver to liquidate the operation’s assets. The operation has also been ordered to turn over $1.08 million in ill-gotten gains to the FTC.
The defendant named in the FTC’s complaint is Pricewert LLC, also doing business as 3FN.net, Triple Fiber Network, APS Telecom, APX Telecom, APS Communications and APS Communication.