2023-08-29 19:33:22
Hacking operations have cost ransomed victims tens of millions of dollars in total. American judicial authorities announced on Tuesday August 29 that they had dismantled an international computer hacking network called Qakbot, which has infected more than 700,000 computers worldwide.
The international operation to neutralize the infrastructure of this network was carried out in cooperation with the French, British, German, Dutch, Romanian and Latvian police and judicial authorities, the federal prosecutor told a press conference in Los Angeles. Martin Estrada, reporting the seizure of 8.6 million dollars (7.9 million euros) in cryptocurrencies.
26,000 machines hacked in France
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed in a press release the participation of France, Germany and the Netherlands in this operation which took place on August 26. Of the more than 700,000 hacked machines, 26,000 were in France, according to the same source, and more than 200,000 in the United States, detailed the American federal police in a communiqué.
The proliferation of computers hacked by Qakbot, launched in 2008, has made it “the malware of choice for cybercriminals worldwide”I explained M. Estrada.
Over the past eighteen months, hacking operations facilitated by Qakbot have cost their victims a total of $58 million in various ransoms.
Among the companies targeted across the United States, the prosecutor cited an energy engineering company, financial services companies, food distribution and a producer of defense equipment, without presenting them more precisely. He also did not mention any suspects or arrests, stressing that the investigation was continuing.
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