Following the massive botnet takedown codenamed Operation Endgame in May 2024, which shut down the biggest malware droppers, including IcedID, SystemBC, Pikabot, Smokeloader and Bumblebee, law enforcement agencies across North America and Europe dealt another blow to the malware ecosystem in early 2025.
In a coordinated series of actions, customers of the Smokeloader pay-per-install botnet, operated by the actor known as ‘Superstar’, faced consequences such as arrests, house searches, arrest warrants or ‘knock and talks’. Superstar used his botnet to run a pay-per-install service, enabling customers to gain access to victims’ machines. Customers used the service to deploy malware for their own criminal activities. Investigations revealed that botnet access was purchased for a range of purposes, including keylogging, webcam access, ransomware deployment, cryptomining and more.
Read more…
Source: Europol
Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.
Related:
- GandCrab ransomware affiliate arrested for phishing attacks
March 9, 2021
A suspected GandCrab Ransomware member was arrested in South Korea for using phishing emails to infect victims. The GandCrab ransomware operation started in January 2018 when it quickly became a malware empire threatening businesses worldwide. Operated as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), the GandCrab developers teamed up with affiliates in a revenue share partnership, with affiliates earning between 70-80% ...
- Hackers access surveillance cameras at Tesla, Cloudflare, banks, more
March 9, 2021
Hackers gained access to live surveillance cameras installed at Tesla, Equinox, healthcare clinics, jails, and banks, including the Bank of Utah. In addition to images captured from the cameras, the hacker also shared screenshots of their ability to gain root shell access to the surveillance systems used by Cloudflare and at Telsa HQ. Hacks multiple cameras in ...
- Cracking of encrypted messaging service dealt major blow to organised crime
March 9, 2021
The cracking of a previously-unbreakable encrypted messaging service popular with criminals involved in drug trafficking and organised crime delivered a major victory for the justice system on Tuesday. The cracking of the expensive messaging app, called “Sky ECC,” was what allowed over 1,500 police officers across Belgium to be simultaneously deployed in at least 200 raids, ...
- Germany to spy on far-right AfD party, reports say
March 3, 2021
Germany’s intelligence services have designated the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a suspected extremist group, according to local media. The nationalist party is already under surveillance in a number of German states, but the decision means its activities can be observed nationwide. However, MPs and members of the European Parliament will be excluded from any ...
- Fast Flux 101: How Cybercriminals Improve the Resilience of Their Infrastructure to Evade Detection and Law Enforcement Takedowns
March 2, 2021
Fast flux is a technique used by cybercriminals to increase their infrastructure’s resilience by making law enforcement takedown of their servers and blocklisting of their IP addresses harder. It is critical for these cybercriminals to maintain their networks’ uptime to avoid losses to their revenue streams, including phishing and scam campaigns, botnet rental and illegal ...
- Malaysia arrests 11 suspects for hacking government sites
February 19, 2021
Malaysian officials announced on Thursday the arrest of 11 suspects believed to be part of a hacktivist group that defaced government websites during late January. The group, calling itself Anonymous Malaysia, defaced 17 websites for local governments and universities, according to posts they made on a Facebook page earlier this month. The defacements were part of a ...