Europol coordinates global action against criminal abuse of Cobalt Strike


Law enforcement has teamed up with the private sector to fight against the abuse of a legitimate security tool by criminals who were using it to infiltrate victims’ IT systems.

Older, unlicensed versions of the Cobalt Strike red teaming tool were targeted during a week of action coordinated from Europol’s headquarters between 24 and 28 June. Throughout the week, law enforcement flagged known IP addresses associated with criminal activity, along with a range of domain names used by criminal groups, for online service providers to disable unlicensed versions of the tool.

Read more…
Source: Europol


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • World’s Most Dangerous Malware Emotet Disrupted Through Global Action

    January 27, 2021

    Law enforcement and judicial authorities worldwide have this week disrupted one of most significant botnets of the past decade: EMOTET. Investigators have now taken control of its infrastructure in an international coordinated action. This operation is the result of a collaborative effort between authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Lithuania, ...

  • US Department of Justice Launches Global Action Against NetWalker Ransomware

    January 27, 2021

    The Department of Justice today announced a coordinated international law enforcement action to disrupt a sophisticated form of ransomware known as NetWalker. NetWalker ransomware has impacted numerous victims, including companies, municipalities, hospitals, law enforcement, emergency services, school districts, colleges, and universities. Attacks have specifically targeted the healthcare sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking advantage of the ...

  • UK: ‘Human error’ blamed for wiping of thousands of police records

    January 15, 2021

    Home Secretary Priti Patel must “take responsibility” for the wiping of 150,000 arrest records from police databases, Labour has said. The records were accidentally wiped last week and they included fingerprint, DNA and arrest histories, according to The Times. The newspaper says the technological blunder could allow offenders to go free, as evidence from crime scenes would ...

  • Europol: World’s Largest Illegal Dark Web Marketplace Taken Down

    January 12, 2021

    DarkMarket, the world’s largest illegal marketplace on the dark web, has been taken offline in an international operation involving Germany, Australia, Denmark, Moldova, Ukraine, the United Kingdom (the National Crime Agency), and the USA (DEA, FBI, and IRS). Europol supported the takedown with specialist operational analysis and coordinated the cross-border collaborative effort of the countries ...

  • FBI warns of Egregor ransomware extorting businesses worldwide

    January 7, 2021

    The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has sent a security alert warning private sector companies that the Egregor ransomware operation is actively targeting and extorting businesses worldwide. The FBI says in a TLP:WHITE Private Industry Notification (PIN) shared on Wednesday that Egregor claims to have already hit and compromised more than over 150 victims since ...

  • Disgruntled Former Employee Disrupted Shipments of Needed PPE During Pandemic

    January 6, 2021

    When the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States last spring, a Georgia-based medical equipment packaging company worked to get personal protective equipment (PPE) to medical workers treating sick patients. But a disgruntled former employee thwarted those efforts at a time when protective equipment was desperately needed. Christopher Dobbins, a vice-president in the company who’d been fired a ...