A malware operation that’s been running since 2008 has been taken down, the Justice Department and FBI announced on Tuesday.
Officials said the operation, named ‘Duck Hunt’, targeted Qakbot.
Qakbot “is controlled by a cybercriminal organization and used to target critical industries worldwide,” U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California said, citing court documents. The malware would make its way into its victims’ computers through spam messages with “malicious attachments or hyperlinks.”
The Justice Department said the malware infected over 70,000 computers worldwide, including more than 200,000 in the U.S., and “caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.”
“Qakbot was the botnet of choice for some of the most infamous ransomware gangs, but we have now taken it out,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said. “This operation also has led to the seizure of almost 9 million dollars in cryptocurrency from the Qakbot cybercriminal organization, which will now be made available to victims. My Office’s focus is on protecting and vindicating the rights of victims, and this multifaceted attack on computer-enabled crime demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding our nation from harm.”
Estrada said the victims impacted by Qakbot vary.
"Among the victims, a power engineering firm based in Illinois financial services organizations based in Alabama, Kansas and Maryland, a defense manufacturer based in Maryland and a food distribution company based here in Southern California,” he said.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge in Los Angeles Don Always said the team gained access to Qakbot servers around the world and that the FBI neutralized and blocked the Qakbot servers.
“The traffic was then redirected to an FBI-controlled server which gathered information to identify the infected computers and set instructions on how to remove the malware,” he said.
The multi-national operation involved the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Romania, Latvia, and the Netherlands.
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