Microsoft has taken the fight against spam-spreading botnets from cyberspace to the court room, managing to win a temporary restraint order to shut down almost 300 domains which are thought to develop the command and control structure for the widely spread Waledac botnet.

The restraining order was given by a US federal judge in "secret", an important element of the technology giant's plan, termed as "Operation b49". By closing down the command and control domains for Waledac without sending out an alert to the people responsible for it first, Microsoft will be able to stomp out the botnet, cutting out the compromised bots from the main brains of the operation.

Botnets have now managed to grow to become on the biggest online threats presently. Estimates have shared that over a million PCs from around the world are compromised or attacked by one bot malware or another.

There are, however, still some questions on whether the legal system is an effective enough tool against botnets and their ill effects, or if there are any chances of Operation b49 becoming a long-term success.