The FBI said Tuesday that it has taken down a network of hacked devices responsible for extorting tens of millions of dollars from victims around the world.<\/p>\n
US officials described the network known as Qakbot as one of the most notorious \u201cbotnets\u201d in the world, referring to computer networks that have been infected with malicious software so that they can be controlled remotely without the owner\u2019s knowledge \u2014 often to send phishing emails.<\/p>\n
These emails can in turn be used to hack into victims\u2019 computer systems, which attackers will hold for ransom.<\/p>\n
Qakbot was instrumental in enabling cyberattacks against businesses and critical services around the world, according to US officials, including hits on the San Bernardino County Sheriff\u2019s Department and hospitals run by Prospect Medical Group.<\/p>\n
The latter resulted in the closure of emergency rooms and medical facilities across the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe FBI neutralised this far-reaching criminal supply chain, cutting it off at the knees,\u201d US Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe victims ranged from financial institutions on the East Coast to a critical infrastructure government contractor in the Midwest to a medical device manufacturer on the West Coast.<\/p>\n
US officials estimated that, since its creation in 2008, Qakbot had infected around 200,000 computers in the US and 700,000 globally.<\/p>\n
\u201cQakbot is a long-standing operation spanning more than a decade that has adapted and evolved with the times \u2014 initially focused on traditional banking fraud and later pivoting its focus to act as a foothold to support ransomware intrusions,\u201d said Kimberly Goody, a senior manager at the Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant.<\/p>\n
Goody warned that take-downs don\u2019t always result in total disruption of the bad actors behind these botnets, and they may \u201cpivot to underground communities\u201d to find other ways in.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny impact to these operations is welcomed as it can cause fractures within the ecosystem and lead to disruptions that cause actors to forge other partnerships \u2014 even if it\u2019s only temporary,\u201d Goody said.<\/p>\n
US officials described the network known as Qakbot as one of the most notorious \u201cbotnets\u201d in the world, referring to computer networks that have been infected with malicious software so that they can be controlled remotely without the owner\u2019s knowledge \u2014 often to send phishing emails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":506004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2822,45977,39184,801,417,88942],"class_list":["post-506002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-botnet","tag-botnets","tag-federal-bureau-of-investigation-fbi","tag-malware","tag-phishing","tag-qakbot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":506006,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506002\/revisions\/506006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}