These botnets hurt people whose computers are infected directly by slowing down the machines.www.nbcnews.com/technology/microsoft-leads-disruption-largest-infected-global-pc-network-2D11702827
They hurt anybody who buys from the defrauded companies because the cost of paying for the supposed ad clicks have to be included in the price of the products.
They hurt all who use the internet by slowing it down.
In fact, I notice my internet connection is much faster today than it has been.
By Joseph Menn Reuters
Dec. 6, 2013
Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it had disrupted the largest network of compromised personal computers, involving some 2 million machines around the world, since it stepped up its battle against organized online criminals three years ago.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant filed a lawsuit in Texas and won a judge's order directing Internet service providers to block all traffic to 18 Internet addresses that were used to direct fraudulent activity to the infected machines.
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Such rings use networks of captive machines, known as botnets, in complicated schemes that force them to click on ads without the computer owners' knowledge. The schemes cheat advertisers on search engines including Microsoft's Bing by making them pay for interactions that have no chance of leading to a sale. Microsoft said the botnet had been costing advertisers on Bing, Google Inc and Yahoo Inc an estimated $2.7 million monthly.
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