He added: "We were really just giving a snapshot of the traffic for that range. We didn't say who's responsible for it." Weafer said Symantec has an ongoing relationship with the FTC to assist in information gathering related to perceived security issues of various kinds.

According to the FTC announcement of its actions, the Commission stated that when it comes to Pricewert, it has reason to believe the law has been violated, but that its decision to order Internet access shut off is not a finding that the defendant, Pricewert, has violated the law. That will be decided in court. The FTC order also freezes Pricewert's assets.

The FTC announcement today indicates the that the commission believes that Pricewert "recruited bot herders" and said transcripts filed in court "show the defendant's senior employees discussing the configuration of botnets with bot herders."

The FTC credits NASA's Office of Inspector General, computer crime division; Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics, University of Alabama in Birmingham; The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; The Shadowserver foundation; Symantec; and the Spamhaus project for "invaluable assistance" in the investigation of Pricewert.