Biggest Global Botnet Qakbot Dismantled in Multinational Cyber Takedown

On 29 August, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) and Dutch Police announced a multinational operation to disrupt and dismantle the malware and botnet known as Qakbot, in close collaboration with other governments.   

The largest operation ever against a botnet infrastructure was jointly carried out in the night from Friday to Saturday by the authorities in the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Romania and Lithuania. The botnet infrastructure was used by cybercriminals to commit ransomware, financial fraud, and other cyber-enabled criminal activity. 

In the Netherlands, the joint efforts of the National Public Prosecutor's Office and the High Tech Crime Team of the National Police in various data centers led to the seizure of 22 servers connected to the malicious Qakbot. Computer servers have also been taken offline in France (6) and Germany (8).

Collaboration 
Good collaboration is a precondition for being successful in combating cybercrime. That is why the National Public Prosecutor's Office and the High Tech Crime Team of the Dutch Police have worked closely with public and private parties for the Dutch investigation. Fox-IT, Northwave, the National Cyber Security Center and NFIR were affiliated with this research. The police and judicial authorities invest in a structural partnership with these and other organisations.

Check je Hack

The Dutch police have secured 7.6 billion stolen credentials of computer users (email addresses and login details). At www.politie.nl/checkjehack you can check whether your login details are included in the currently verified dataset from this study.

Read the official press release in Dutch.

Photo: source Dutch Police