Microsoft Drops Suit Against Firm In Botnet Case

wiredmikey writes "Microsoft has dismissed a lawsuit against a company it contended a month ago was at the heart of the now-defunct Kelihos botnet. In September, Microsoft named Dominique Piatti and his company dotFree Group SRO as controllers of the botnet. The move marked the first time Microsoft had named a defendant in one of its botnet-related civil suits. 'Since the Kelihos takedown, we have been in talks with Mr. Piatti and dotFree Group s.r.o. and, after reviewing the evidence voluntarily provided by Mr. Piatti, we believe that neither he nor his business were involved in controlling the subdomains used to host the Kelihos botnet,' blogged Richard Domingues Boscovich, Senior Attorney for Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit. 'Rather, the controllers of the Kelihos botnet leveraged the subdomain services offered by Mr. Piatti's cz.cc domain.' In regards to Kelihos, Boscovich said Microsoft is continuing its legal fight against the 22 'John Does' listed as co-defendants in the lawsuit."

Usual Slashdot response

[SharkLaser]

The usual Slashdot response is to put a bullet into botnet owners heads or nuke them from orbit, no questions asked. Well, in this case there would be an innocent man dead. It just shows it isn't always so easy to find them.

No apology then

[folderol]

We falsely accused you, maybe made a sizable dent in you business, but that's OK. We're Microsoft and beyond all possible reproach.

Re:Defamation, anybody?

[Runaway1956]

What does Piatti get? He gets a bot-free business. Damage to his company's reputation? That's HIS problem, seeing that he carelessly allowed his domains to be used for bot-netting. He caused the damage himself, by way of neglect.

I don't even like Microsoft, and I resent the fact that you have forced me to defend Microsoft. FFS, AC, have you no sense at all? If the White House were to come under cybernetic attack, and the majority of those attacks appeared to originate from my house, you bet your ASS that the Secret Service will be knocking on my door, with a battering ram! They will confiscate every electronic device I own, they will confiscate my ass, and they will publicize my arrest around the world.

In which case, I will be solely responsible for the "damage" to my reputation, for having failed to secure my computers.