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Infamous 'Qakbot' Hacker Network Destroyed

2023-08-29 20:01:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Infamous 'Qakbot' Hacker Network Destroyed

US authorities on Tuesday said an international law enforcement operation had taken down the notorious "Qakbot" malware platform widely used by cybercriminals in a range of financial crimes, Reuters reports .

First discovered more than a decade ago, Qakbot is typically spread through malicious and stolen emails sent to unsuspecting victims.

The US Department of Justice said the operation, nicknamed Duck Hunt, involved the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as France, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Romania and Latvia.

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said the crackdown on Qakbot was the most significant technological and financial operation ever led by the department against a botnet. The term botnet is used to refer to an interconnected network of infected computers that hackers use to spread viruses.

"Together we have taken down Qakbot and saved countless victims from future attacks," he told a news conference.

Security researchers say they believe Qakbot originated in Russia and has attacked organizations around the world, from Germany to Argentina.

Estrada said the Qakbot malware had infected more than 700,000 victim computers, facilitated the deployment of ransomware and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to businesses, healthcare providers and government agencies.

As part of the operation, the agencies seized 52 servers in the United States and abroad.

Investigators found evidence that between October 2021 and April 2023, Qakbot administrators received fees corresponding to approximately $58 million in rewards paid by victims.

To disrupt the cybercrime network, the FBI said it redirected Qakbot's Internet traffic to servers controlled by the bureau, which effectively uninstalled the corresponding malware from victims' computers.

In doing so, the FBI said it actively removed malicious files from private systems without viewing or collecting any personal information.

In a statement, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the victims ranged from financial institutions on the East Coast, to a critical infrastructure government contractor in the Midwest, to a medical device manufacturer on the West Coast./ CNA





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