The Botnet That Frauded Digital Advertisers $180 Million- The Short Story of Methbot @collinsinfosec

The Botnet That Frauded Digital Advertisers $180 Million- The Short Story of Methbot @collinsinfosec

Uploaded May 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

📚 Sources:
[1] krebsonsecurity.com/2016/12/report-3-5m-in-ad-fraud-daily-from-methbot
[2] theverge.com/2021/11/11/22776481/russian-king-of-fraud-sentenced-10-years-prison-methbot-digital-ad-scheme
[3] whiteops.com/hubfs/Resources/WO_Methbot_Operation_WP.pdf
[4] cnbc.com/2016/12/20/cyber-firm-says-russian-methbot-scam-is-defrauding-digital-advertisers.html
[5] bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/russian-methbot-operation-makes-up-to-5-million-per-day-from-click-fraud
[6] venturebeat.com/2016/12/20/russian-methbot-stole-5-million-daily-with-ad-fraud-scheme
[7] rferl.org/a/methbot-russia-internet-fraud-state-sponsored-hacking-zhukov/31241417.html
[8] anura.io/blog/king-of-ad-fraud-sentenced
[9] cyberscoop.com/fbi-methbot-3ve-investigation-ad-fraud
[10] justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/russian-cybercriminal-sentenced-10-years-prison-digital-advertising-fraud-scheme
[11] rferl.org/a/methbot-russia-internet-fraud-state-sponsored-hacking-zhukov/31241417.html
[12] thedrum.com/news/2021/11/15/russian-ad-fraud-king-convicted-7m-methbot-scam
[13] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methbot

🐕 Follow Me:
Twitter: twitter.com/collinsinfosec
Instagram: instagram.com/collinsinfosec
Cybercademy Discord Server: discord.gg/bWymWhCv9p

🤔 Have questions, concerns, comments?:
Email me: grant@cybercademy.org

🎧 Gear:
Laptop (Lenovo X1 Carbon Ultrabook 6th Gen): amzn.to/2O0UfAM
Monitors (Dell D Series 31.5” D3218HN): amzn.to/2EXlgRF
Keyboard (Velocifire VM01): amzn.to/2TEswfd
Headphones (Audio Technica ATH-M40x): amzn.to/2F4Tvq6
Standing Desk (FlexiSpot Height Adjustable 47 inch): amzn.to/3p3uSAa

The Botnet That Frauded Digital Advertisers $180 Million- The Short Story of Methbot

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$Build a Malware Analysis Lab (Self-Hosted & Cloud) - The Malware Analysis Project 101 ⛔ Disclaimers: I take no responsibility or accountability for infection of malicious software, programs, files onto any computer or workstation. This project and videos are for educational purposes only. I do not condone the development, use of, or spreading of programs to intentionally harm assets, networks, or individuals. Safety is key when dealing with malware. Ensure you always are following protocols when it comes to downloading and detonating a malicious sample. Follow all instructions within the courses and listed resources. 📝 Notes: https://cybercademy.org/the-malware-analysis-project-101/#notes ⏰ Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:51 - Crash Course Overview 1:52 - Self-hosted Topology 3:13 - Cloud-hosted Topology 4:12 - Items to Note 5:45 - Lab Showcase 6:10 - Download VirtualBox 7:02 - Download Windows 10 ISO 8:22 - Download Remnux 9:03 - Windows 10 VM Setup 16:06 - Disable Windows Defender 19:24 - Setup FlareVM 23:45 - Setup Remnux 25:15 - Setup Host-only Adapter 27:23 - Configure Remnux 33:45 - Setup & Test VM Connections 37:11 - Self-hosted Lab Finished 37:19 - Cloud Lab Overview 39:05 - Creating EC2 Instance 43:30 - Set VM Environment 45:55 - Disable Windows Defender 47:51 - Install FlareVM 53:10 - Export AMI 54:12 - Create IAM Role 57:35 - Download JQ, Terraform, AWSCLI 1:01:13 - Log Into IAM Account 1:02:14 - Change Terraform Files 1:05:49 - Deploy Cloud-hosted Lab 1:07:08 - Log Into Lab 1:07:44 - Configure INetSIM 1:09:02 - Cloud-lab Finished 1:11:06 - Conclusion 🔗 Links & Commands: [Self-Hosted Lab] Download VirtualBox: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads Download Windows 10 ISO: https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-windows-10-enterprise.html Download Remnux: https://docs.remnux.org/install-distro/get-virtual-appliance Download Chrome: https://www.google.com/chrome/ [Download FlareVM] Change directories to the Desktop (New-Object net.webclient).DownloadFile(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mandiant/flare-vm/main/install.ps1;,$([Environment]::GetFolderPath(Desktop))install.ps1) Unblock-File .install.ps1 Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted .install.ps1 [Cloud-Hosted Lab] AWS Malware Lab by Adan Alvarez: https://github.com/adanalvarez/AWS-malware-lab/tree/main AWS Sign-up: https://aws.amazon.com/resources/create-account/ Install Terraform: https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/tutorials/aws-get-started/install-cli Ubuntu AMI ID (AWS Marketplace): https://us-east-1.console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/home?region=us-east-1#AMICatalog [Install JQ] sudo apt install jq [Install Terraform] sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y gnupg software-properties-common wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | gpg dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg gpg no-default-keyring keyring /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg fingerprint echo deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list sudo apt update sudo apt-get install terraform [Install AWS CLI] sudo apt install awscli -y [Clone AWS Malware Lab GitHub Repo] git clone https://github.com/adanalvarez/AWS-malware-lab [Create File] nano shared.auto.tfvars.json [Configuration File] { environment: malware-lab, ami: ami-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, account : 222222222222, region: us-east-1, enable_guacamole: false, enable_inetsim: true } [Terraform Commands] - terraform init: Initialize the environment. - terraform plan: Plan the configuration. - terraform apply: Apply the configuration file to AWS account. - terraform destroy: Destroy the environment once analysis has been conducted. 🐕 Follow Me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/collinsinfosec Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_collinsinfosec Cybercademy Discord Server: https://discord.gg/bWymWhCv9p 🤔 Have questions, concerns, comments?: Email me: grant@cybercademy.org 🎧 Gear: Laptop (Lenovo X1 Carbon Ultrabook 6th Gen): https://amzn.to/2O0UfAM Monitors (Dell D Series 31.5” D3218HN): https://amzn.to/2EXlgRF Keyboard (Velocifire VM01): https://amzn.to/2TEswfd Headphones (Audio Technica ATH-M40x): https://amzn.to/2F4Tvq6 Work Monitors (Dell U4919DW UltraSharp 49 Curved Monitor): https://amzn.to/3yQmDhM Desk (FLEXISPOT EW8 Comhar Electric Standing Desk): https://amzn.to/3S9OxvG$

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The Botnet That Frauded Digital Advertisers $180 Million- The Short Story of Methbot