- Europol follows the operation of the Endgame Botnet Takedown operation
- He made several arrests and research at home
- Some suspects have cooperated, but this could only be the start
In a follow -up of the operation of putting in May 2024 of the Botnet withdrawal operation, Operation Endgame, Europol said that it had made several arrests.
The European Agency for the Application of the Act, as well as a certain number of national partners, had closed some of the largest drops of malware, including Icedid, Systembc, Pikabot, Smokeloader and Bumblebee. The operation lasted many countries and multiple continents.
Now, in a press release published on the Europol website, it has been said that the operation continued, but this time against Smokeloader customers.
New actions
Smokeloader is a remuneration malware, in which cybercriminals pay to use the service (which has already infected many devices) and place their own malicious software. Europol said criminals had used Smokeloader for Keylogging, Access to Webcam, Ransomware deployment, cryptominage, etc.
“The police have found customers because they were recorded in a database seized during the Endgame operation,” said Europol, saying that these people were now confronted with “home searches, arrest warrants or” blows and conferences “.
He did not discuss the number of people involved, but he said that “several suspects” had cooperated with the authorities by facilitating the examination of their digital devices. Several other suspects admitted that they have sold the Smokeloader services during a markup.
As in Operation Endgame, several law enforcement organizations were involved in follow -up, including FBI, the secret services, DOD, DCIS, the Royal Canadian Mounted (ROC) police, the Czech police, the Danish police, the French national police, the Cyber Center center, the National Némterres police, the National Nézes police and the Netzes.
The agency also said that the operation has not yet ended and that “new actions” will soon be announced on the Operation-ndgame.com website.
“Anyone with information is invited to contact the authorities via this website,” he said. “In addition, the suspects involved in these botnets and others, which have not yet been arrested, will be held directly responsible for their actions.”
