"Qakbot Malware Neutralized in Global Cyber Takedown by US Department of Justice"
Originally Published 2 years ago — by Department of Justice
The Justice Department, in collaboration with international partners, has disrupted the Qakbot botnet and taken down its infrastructure, marking the largest U.S.-led financial and technical disruption of a botnet used for cybercriminal activities. The Qakbot malware, also known as Qbot or Pinkslipbot, primarily infects victim computers through spam emails and has been used by various ransomware groups to extort victims. The operation resulted in the deletion of the Qakbot code from infected computers and the seizure of over $8.6 million in cryptocurrency. The FBI gained access to the Qakbot infrastructure, identified over 700,000 infected computers worldwide, and redirected botnet traffic to uninstall the malware.