Catenaa, Tuesday, February 03, 2026– Google has disabled a massive cyber weapon operated by Chinese company Ipidea, removing dozens of domains and hundreds of affiliated apps to cut off access to over nine million Android devices, the WallStreet Journal said in a report tagged Exclusive.
The company, which runs at least 13 residential proxy brands including Ipidea, 922 Proxy, Py Proxy, and 360 Proxy, had secretly installed software on consumer devices such as smartphones, PCs, and media players, enabling third parties to use them to surf the internet anonymously.
Authorities describe these “residential proxy” networks as a dual threat: they can be used for legitimate purposes like data collection and ad verification but have increasingly been exploited by criminals and state-sponsored hackers to cover tracks.
Google’s actions follow a federal court order and a prior 2023 lawsuit over related networks, and aim to dismantle the technical infrastructure behind the proxy system.
Ipidea, founded in 2020 and headquartered in China, acknowledged aggressive marketing strategies on hacker forums but claimed it has improved business practices.
Security researchers warned that proxies allowed unauthorized access to corporate networks, potentially exposing sensitive data.
The takedown responds to heightened cybersecurity risks, including a flaw exploited last year to build Kimwolf, a botnet that launched large-scale distributed denial-of-service attacks. Experts described it as the most powerful botnet assembled to date. Despite Ipidea’s claims of lawful operations, Google and independent analysts say the network facilitated illicit activity and posed both consumer and national security threats.
