According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, software biggie Microsoft has won a US court order that authorizes the company to deactivate a global network of computers that, as per the company's accusations, spread spam and harmful computer codes.

The order by federal judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, came after Microsoft's Monday filed an "under seal" complaint against `Waledac' which apparently is a "botnet" - comprising a horde of malicious code-infected computers that are virtually controlled by the hackers from a central system.

With Microsoft having accused 27 unnamed "John Doe" defendants of violating federal laws against computer crime, the court order allows Microsoft to secretly break communications channels to as many as 277 Internet addresses, or domain names associated with the `Waledac' botnet, before its operators can restore links to the network.

Furthermore, Judge Brinkema's order also required the Internet security and naming services provider VeriSign Inc. - which also oversees the registration of all domain names ending in ".com" - to turn off the suspect Internet addresses for the time being.

Incidentally, registration records linked to the suspect domain names list contact information in China. The owners of the domain names were immediately notified by Microsoft about the deactivation move early Thursday, soon after the protective order covering the court actions was lifted.