Get an exclusive look inside Microsoft’s new high-tech headquarters for the fight against cybercrime

Call them “the zombies next door.”

With terrifying speed and stealth, cybercriminals can infect millions of PCs with malware, turning them into a vicious zombie army mobilized to commit crimes like identity theft, financial fraud, and worse.

The scope is staggering. Half of online adults have been victims of botnets and other kinds of cybercrime attacks in the past year. In all, cybercrime costs the global economy up to $500 billion annually, and is often linked to organized crime rings involved in piracy, child exploitation and other dirty deeds.

For many years Microsoft has helped lead the fight against cybercrime. Last summer, the company worked in parallel with the FBI to take down the massive Citadel botnet, which had infected 5 million PCs and stole about a half billion dollars from people and businesses. The company’s new Cybercrime Center in Redmond, Wash., which opened Thursday, will act as a new headquarters for similar collaborative efforts between Microsoft, law enforcement, customers and partners.

To celebrate the opening, we’re giving you special security clearance to explore the Cybercrime Center in a highly visual new feature story at microsoft.com/stories. The high-tech headquarters may look like something from the set of CSI, but “it’s a real-life showcase for what Microsoft’s business intelligence and big data tools can do,” said Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president of Microsoft’s Legal and Corporate Affairs.

Read the full piece at microsoft.com/stories. 

You might also be interested in:

• What’s it like to design the future of Microsoft? Ask this guy.
• How this boy scout earned his billion dollar business merit badge
• Skype at 10: How an Estonian startup transformed itself (and the world)

Steve Wiens
Editor, Stories