{"id":2015760,"date":"2023-08-29T16:23:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T20:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-authorities-recover-millions-from-notorious-hacking-network\/"},"modified":"2023-08-29T16:29:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T20:29:44","slug":"u-s-authorities-recover-millions-from-notorious-hacking-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-authorities-recover-millions-from-notorious-hacking-network\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. authorities seize millions from infamous hacking network."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fu-s-authorities-recover-millions-from-notorious-hacking-network%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2015760&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Law Enforcement\u2062 Operation Dismantles \u2062Notorious Qakbot Malware \u2062Platform<\/h2>\n<p>In a\u2064 major multinational effort, U.S. authorities have successfully taken\u2064 down the infamous &#8220;Qakbot&#8221; \u200cbotnet malware \u200dplatform. This \u2063platform, controlled by cybercriminals, has\u2064 been\u2064 responsible for carrying out criminal financial activities on a \u2062massive scale.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Justice revealed\u200b that Qakbot malware has infected over 700,000 \u200cvictim computers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/north-carolina-tornado-destroys-pfizer-building-taking-along-50000-pallets-of-medicine-with-it\/\" title=\"North Carolina tornado obliterates Pfizer building, wipes out 50,000 medicine pallets.\">causing\u200d extensive damage<\/a> to businesses, healthcare\u200b providers,\u2063 and government agencies worldwide. Ransomware deployments \u2062and financial losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars have \u2064been attributed to \u2064this malicious\u2062 software.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2063 operation, known as &#8220;Operation\u2062 Duck Hunt,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-authorities-recover-millions-from-notorious-hacking-network\/\" title=\"U.S. authorities seize millions from infamous hacking network.\">involved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-red-wave-of-conservative-women-elected-to-congress\/\" title=\"The Red Wave of Conservative Women Elected to Congress\">law enforcement<\/a> agencies<\/a>\u2062 from \u2063the U.S., France, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Latvia, and the United \u200dKingdom. \u2062It\u200b marks \u2062one of the\u200b largest disruptions of a botnet infrastructure used by cybercriminals \u2064for ransomware \u2064attacks, financial fraud, \u200cand other cyber-enabled criminal activities.<\/p>\n<p>FBI\u200d Director Christopher Wray stated, &#8220;The FBI neutralized this far-reaching \u2063criminal supply chain, cutting it \u200coff at the knees. The victims ranged from financial\u2063 institutions on the East Coast to a critical infrastructure government contractor in the Midwest to \u2064a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stocks-jump-as-wall-street-cruises-to-best-day-since-january\/\" title=\"Stocks Jump as Wall Street Cruises to Best Day Since January\">medical device manufacturer<\/a> on the West \u2063Coast.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The FBI successfully dismantled the botnet \u200bby gaining\u2063 lawful\u2064 access\u200b to its infrastructure and redirecting \u200bthe traffic to their own servers. From there, infected computers were instructed to \u2064download an uninstaller file created by \u2063law enforcement. \u200cThis action\u200b untethered the victims from\u2062 the botnet \u2064and prevented further\u200c malware\u2063 infections from Qakbot.<\/p>\n<p>During the operation,\u2063 authorities \u2063recovered more \u2062than 6.5 million victims&#8217; email addresses \u2062and password \u2063credentials, with millions more still being identified. Additionally, 52\u200c servers \u200bwere seized, effectively dismantling the Qakbot system.<\/p>\n<p>Qakbot malware, also known as &#8220;Qbot&#8221; and &#8220;Pinkslipbot,&#8221; has been active since 2008.\u200d It primarily\u200b infects victim \u2063computers through spam emails containing malicious\u2064 hyperlinks.\u2063 Once a user interacts \u2064with the email&#8217;s content, the\u200b platform delivers malware or\u200c ransomware, unknowingly incorporating the\u2063 victim&#8217;s computer into the Qakbot-controlled botnet network.<\/p>\n<p>Security researchers \u200bbelieve that the hacking network \u200bbehind Qakbot originated \u2064in \u200cRussia.<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1692980418669000&#038;usg=AOvVaw15MNQZ1U33fOZBroIc4gYb\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>In\u2064 the United States, Qakbot ransomware infected more than 200,000 computers belonging to \u2063critical infrastructure industries. These included a power \u200dengineering\u200c firm in Illinois, financial services organizations in Alabama, Kansas, and Maryland, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-defense-firms-could-be-impacted-by-sanctions-on-russia\/\" title=\"U.S. Defense Firms Could Be Impacted By Sanctions on Russia\">defense manufacturer<\/a> in Maryland, and a\u2064 food distribution \u200dcompany in Southern California.<\/p>\n<p>Between October 2021 \u2062and April 2023, the administrators\u2063 of the Qakbot platform received approximately $58 million in ransoms from victims. However, these\u200b attacks resulted \u2062in millions of dollars in losses for individuals and \u2063businesses worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities have \u200calso seized over $8.6 million in cryptocurrency, representing illicit profits from Qakbot activities. They are currently working to remove the malicious code from victims&#8217; computers.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada \u200bemphasized the significance of this operation, stating, &#8220;Qakbot was the botnet\u200c of choice \u200bfor some of the most infamous ransomware gangs, but we have now taken it out. This operation \u2062also has led to the seizure of\u2063 almost \u20639 million dollars in cryptocurrency from the \u200cQakbot cybercriminal \u200corganization, which will now be made available to \u2063victims. My Office&#8217;s focus\u2063 is \u200bon protecting and vindicating the rights of victims, \u2064and this multifaceted attack on\u200c computer-enabled crime demonstrates\u200c our commitment to safeguarding our\u200d nation \u200bfrom harm.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The\u2062 U.S. State\u200d Department&#8217;s Rewards\u2062 for Justice program is offering a \u2062reward of up to $10 million for information leading\u2063 to the\u2064 identification of the\u2064 Qakbot operator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. authorities announced the dismantling of &#8220;Qakbot,&#8221; a notorious botnet malware platform used by cybercriminals for financial crimes. This operation successfully targeted the malware that infected over 700,000 computers, leading to ransomware attacks and causing extensive damage worth hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses and healthcare providers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":429,"featured_media":2015761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2015760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2015760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2015760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2015760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2015761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2015760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2015760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2015760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}