US law enforcement, in collaboration with several European countries, announced the shutdown of the notorious Qakbot malware system, known for its involvement in numerous financial crimes. Dubbed “Duck Hunt”, the operation marked a major milestone in the fight against botnets, networks of infected computers used to spread viruses.
The joint initiative involved the FBI and law enforcement agencies from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Romania and Latvia. U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada hailed the operation as the most impactful tech and financial effort against a botnet ever led by the Justice Department. “Together, we have neutralized Qakbot, preventing untold future attacks,” Estrada said at a press conference.
Security experts trace Qakbot’s origins to Russia and note its global reach, affecting organizations from Germany to Argentina. During its lifetime, the malware infected more than 700,000 computers, aiding ransomware attacks and causing massive financial damage estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.
The operation culminated in the seizure of 52 servers, both in the US and abroad. Investigators uncovered evidence that the criminals behind Qakbot had collected about $58 million in ransoms from October 2021 to April 2023. To dismantle the network, the FBI redirected its Internet traffic to servers managed by the office, effectively removing malware from affected computers without accessing personal data. .
FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed that the victims of Qakbot’s cybercrimes varied widely, including East Coast financial institutions, a Midwest-based critical infrastructure government contractor and a medical device manufacturer in the west coast “We have effectively disabled this sprawling criminal network,” Wray said.
This article is sourced from and written by AI.
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