A federal judge said Thursday that the he would allow Microsoft to seize 276 domains controlled by the Waledac botnet unless the worm's creators themselves came forward.

A magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia decided Sept. 3 to allow a default judgment in Microsoft's favor, unless the defendants in the case come forward after 14 days.

In 2009, the Waledac worm began spamming like crazy; later, an organized effort launched by Microsoft, Symantec, Shadowserver Foundation, the University of Washington and others obtained a court order to take over and shut down the affected domains. Beheading Waledac worked, Microsoft has said; there has been no more spam originating via those domains.

Read the rest of this story at eWEEK: "Microsoft Scores Court Victory Against Waledac Botnet"