The FBI has reportedly dismantled an alarmingly dangerous malware called Qakbot that managed to cause incredible damage. So far, the estimated figures claim the aftermath was worth millions of dollars with the botnet affecting different regions of the world.
In a public press announcement that was unveiled by the FBI on Tuesday, we know how they managed to carry out the operation with great success and even went on to highlight how close to 700k computers were infected from all over the world with the figures in the US reaching a whopping 200k.
Furthermore, the country’s Justice Department also released a statement on the matter including how they managed to seize cryptocurrency worth a staggering $8.6 million from the firm and those funds would now be up for grabs to different victims that were affected along the way.
The massive operation was conducted in collaboration with various agencies crime-fighting agencies located in the EU as well as the UK and now, it’s being dubbed as the largest operation of its kind to ever be conducted to bring cybercriminals to justice for the acts of fraud, ransomware, and more.
To really disrupt this entire network, sources claim the FBI really worked hard to get the right access to its malicious infrastructure and that would redirect traffic Qakbot traffic toward servers under the leadership of the FBI. This would result in infected computers installing another uninstaller file.
This was designed by law enforcement agencies to attack victims’ devices that were affected and untether them from this particular botnet, therefore stopping more damage of this malware via the botnet.
During this kind of operation, we saw the FBI mention how it managed to rediscover the credentials of victims that were attained via theft. This included the likes of passwords and any email IDs and a whopping 6.5 million people were vulnerable in this attack. Meanwhile, we also saw how many other countries claim millions more were affected than the figure revealed in their part of the world.
With another announcement speaking of 52 different servers being taken under the FBI’s control, we can now confirm that this botnet has been completely dismantled on a permanent basis.
The malware that’s also dubbed QBot first came into existence in the year 2008. And that makes this one of the longest-running malware of all time. But at the start, it was highlighted as just being a banking trojan but with time, its activities continued to get more and more dubious with phishing emails tricking victims into clicking links as well as attachments.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen it turn into a popular selection of botnets for gangs situated in different parts of the world. And they get millions of dollars for targeting victims that can range from government firms to healthcare-providing companies.
As per the statement released by the FBI today, we know that most victims are those based in the states of Alabama, Maryland, Illinois, and even Kansas.
Read next: X And LinkedIn Are Working On Adding Passkey Access For A More Secure Login Approach
In a public press announcement that was unveiled by the FBI on Tuesday, we know how they managed to carry out the operation with great success and even went on to highlight how close to 700k computers were infected from all over the world with the figures in the US reaching a whopping 200k.
Furthermore, the country’s Justice Department also released a statement on the matter including how they managed to seize cryptocurrency worth a staggering $8.6 million from the firm and those funds would now be up for grabs to different victims that were affected along the way.
The massive operation was conducted in collaboration with various agencies crime-fighting agencies located in the EU as well as the UK and now, it’s being dubbed as the largest operation of its kind to ever be conducted to bring cybercriminals to justice for the acts of fraud, ransomware, and more.
To really disrupt this entire network, sources claim the FBI really worked hard to get the right access to its malicious infrastructure and that would redirect traffic Qakbot traffic toward servers under the leadership of the FBI. This would result in infected computers installing another uninstaller file.
This was designed by law enforcement agencies to attack victims’ devices that were affected and untether them from this particular botnet, therefore stopping more damage of this malware via the botnet.
During this kind of operation, we saw the FBI mention how it managed to rediscover the credentials of victims that were attained via theft. This included the likes of passwords and any email IDs and a whopping 6.5 million people were vulnerable in this attack. Meanwhile, we also saw how many other countries claim millions more were affected than the figure revealed in their part of the world.
With another announcement speaking of 52 different servers being taken under the FBI’s control, we can now confirm that this botnet has been completely dismantled on a permanent basis.
The malware that’s also dubbed QBot first came into existence in the year 2008. And that makes this one of the longest-running malware of all time. But at the start, it was highlighted as just being a banking trojan but with time, its activities continued to get more and more dubious with phishing emails tricking victims into clicking links as well as attachments.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen it turn into a popular selection of botnets for gangs situated in different parts of the world. And they get millions of dollars for targeting victims that can range from government firms to healthcare-providing companies.
As per the statement released by the FBI today, we know that most victims are those based in the states of Alabama, Maryland, Illinois, and even Kansas.
Read next: X And LinkedIn Are Working On Adding Passkey Access For A More Secure Login Approach
