Technicians working on behalf of both companies raided data centers in Weehawken, New Jersey, and Manassas, Virginia, on Wednesday, accompanied by U.S. federal marshals, under an order issued by the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.
So now we have Microsoft and Symantec Police…
Microsoft Blogs on Botnets and Their Digital Crimes Unit.
LOL! I say: About time! 
Great job, it shows how the unjustly much maligned Symantec is still in the forefront of combating malware like they always have been.
Oh please it’s because they have a special relationship with the Microsoft. Any security vendor can take their place and do the same.
They could but they don’t. It also has nothing to do with any relationship. Symantec could have done it on their own if they had to. Since the earliest days of combating malware, who has been in the lead in detecting, providing warnings to everyone, and developing new technologies in the field? Symantec/Norton, that’s who.
Watch the Movie on How Bamital worked…simple really…