International authorities disrupt ‘world’s most dangerous malware’

A coalition of international law enforcement and judicial groups on Wednesday announced the takedown of infrastructure used by cyber criminals to spread what authorities described as the “world’s most dangerous malware” and attack organizations worldwide.

The Emotet botnet, one of the most prolific malware viruses used by hackers over the past decade, saw its infrastructure disrupted by authorities in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Ukraine that was coordinated by European Union agencies Europol and Eurojust.

“EMOTET was much more than just a malware,” Europol wrote in a statement Wednesday. “What made EMOTET so dangerous is that the malware was offered for hire to other cybercriminals to install other types of malware, such as banking Trojans or ransomware, onto a victim’s computer.”