Security researchers say they’ve dealt a major blow to one of the largest cyber attack networks in the world. It was a global operation involving Microsoft and the international cybersecurity company ESET, among others.
The operation targeted Trickbot, a ‘botnet’ that has infected an estimated more than a million computers worldwide in recent years. This was done, for example, by automatically sending malware, whereby user passwords were stolen.
Originally, the target was mainly banks and their customers, but since this year Trickbot has been sending more and more ransomware, whereby victims have to pay money to access their files again. There are also thousands of victims in the Netherlands.
The counterattack was a complex operation lasting months, says ESET’s Dave Maasland. “With the help of Microsoft we found out which servers are used for this. And we managed to disable them.”
To the ground
According to Maasland, the operation has resulted in the unknown criminals behind Trickbot being unable to strike for the time being. “This is a real blow,” he says.
However, it will not be the final blow. Maasland has no illusions about this. “They’ll probably find ways to strike again in a few weeks or months. But for now, we’ve gotten them to the ground.”