Microsoft and Symantec have dismantled a botnet that took over millions of computers for criminal activities. The Bamital botnet threatened the US$12.7 billion online advertising industry. It’s the sixth botnet Microsoft has shut down in the past three years, and the second done in cooperation. Bamital could also steal personal information from computers and conduct distributed denial-of-service attacks, the companies say. U.S. Marshals escorted investigators into Web-hosting facilities in Virginia and New Jersey.”]