The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has confirmed authorities have dismantled the RSOCKS botnet, which connected millions of hacked computers and devices worldwide, including 'Internet of Things' gadgets like routers and smart garage openers.

Several unnamed large public and private entities have been victims of RSOCKS, including a university, a hotel, a television studio and an electronics manufacturer, the department said.

“It is believed that the users of this type of proxy service were conducting large-scale attacks against authentication services, also known as credential stuffing, and anonymising themselves when accessing compromised social media accounts, or sending malicious email, such as phishing messages,” a DoJ statement said.

RSOCKS users paid a fee that ranged from $30 (£24.40) to $200 (£163) per day in order to route malicious internet activity through compromised devices to mask or hide the true source of the traffic. The 'storefront...