An Asian-based botnet has been disrupted by Europol's European Cybercrime Center in the past few days.

This followed a hunt for the ownership and location of the large botnet that holds three million computers in its web.

A botnet is a collection of compromised computers and networks acting on the commands of the main system. It allows hackers to utilize a huge wave of traffic and power to take down websites and potentially gain root access without being caught.

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The removal of the botnet puts one of the largest online attack tools offline. A botnet is capable of shutting down banking servers and other sensitive websites.

Europol worked with investigators in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Britain to find the Ramnit botnet along with help from BitSight Technologies, Microsoft and Symantec.

Ramnit's servers were located in four countries and through a U.S. warrant Microsoft and Europol were able to shut down the servers thereby shutting down the botnet for good.

Europol is showing real initiative when it comes to hacking and cyber crime compared to some government authorities. It's leading several current investigations with the help of internet and technology organizations.

The botnet was capable of taking over computers through spam emails, a simple phishing technique that all too often is all hackers need to gain access to a few hundred computers.

Once a botnet captures one, it moves to set up the computer and makes it a feeder to the main core alongside forcing it to send its own emails from a different IP.

Botnets have been used by Lizard Squad and other DDoS attackers and seems to be a popular option for people looking to cause chaos.

TagsRamnit botnet, europol, European Cybercrime Center, BitSight Technologies, Symantec