<p>The indictment says 500,000 computers in the United States were infected, including some used by educational institutions, nonprofit groups and government agencies like NASA.<br /><br />Seven people were named in the indictment. Six Estonians were in custody in that country, and extradition was being sought, authorities said yesterday.<br />One Russian remained at large.<br /><br />Federal prosecutors in Manhattan were to provide more details at a news conference.<br />The defendants "engaged in a massive and sophisticated scheme that infected at least 4 million computers located in over 100 countries with malicious software or malware," the indictment said.<br /><br />"Without the computer users' knowledge or permission, the malware digitally hijacked the infected computers to facilitate the fraud."<br /><br />Searches done on infected computers would be redirected to websites set up by the defendants to generate payments any time a user clicked on an advertisement, the indictment said. The doctored websites mimicked legitimate sites for Netflix, the IRS, ESPN, Amazon and others, it added.<br /><br />The indictment estimated the defendants "reaped least USD 14 million in ill-gotten gains."</p>
<p>The indictment says 500,000 computers in the United States were infected, including some used by educational institutions, nonprofit groups and government agencies like NASA.<br /><br />Seven people were named in the indictment. Six Estonians were in custody in that country, and extradition was being sought, authorities said yesterday.<br />One Russian remained at large.<br /><br />Federal prosecutors in Manhattan were to provide more details at a news conference.<br />The defendants "engaged in a massive and sophisticated scheme that infected at least 4 million computers located in over 100 countries with malicious software or malware," the indictment said.<br /><br />"Without the computer users' knowledge or permission, the malware digitally hijacked the infected computers to facilitate the fraud."<br /><br />Searches done on infected computers would be redirected to websites set up by the defendants to generate payments any time a user clicked on an advertisement, the indictment said. The doctored websites mimicked legitimate sites for Netflix, the IRS, ESPN, Amazon and others, it added.<br /><br />The indictment estimated the defendants "reaped least USD 14 million in ill-gotten gains."</p>