The CyberNews.com Investigation team carried out an infiltration operation against an IRC botnet and reported it to CERT Vietnam to help take it down. Infiltrating a cybercriminal operation can provide valuable data about different types of malicious activities, including DDoS attacks, malware distribution, and more. By conversing with the botmaster, the researcher attempted to find out what the botnet is being used for, as well as whether the cybercriminals who were controlling it were involved in other activities.”]
Source: https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/111170/malware/irc-botnet-hack.html