LockBit Ransomware's Darknet Domains Seized in Global Law Enforcement Raid

Update: The U.K. National Crime Agency NCA has confirmed the takedown of LockBit infrastructure. Read here for more details. An international law enforcement operation has led to the seizure of multiple darknet domains operated by LockBit, one of the most prolific ransomware groups, marking the...

LockBit, the world’s worst ransomware, is down

For the last two years the absolute worst, most prolific, most globally significant "big game" ransomware gang has been LockBit. This evening its position as ransomwares biggest beast is suddenly in doubt, following some non-consensual website redecoration at the hands of the UKs National Crime...

US Takes Down Notorious Warzone RAT Malware Operation, Arrests 2

By Waqas The notorious Warzone Rat operation was active from 2018 until its takedown. This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: US Takes Down Notorious Warzone RAT Malware Operation, Arrests 2...

After FBI Takedown, KV-Botnet Operators Shift Tactics in Attempt to Bounce Back

The threat actors behind the KV-botnet made "behavioral changes" to the malicious network as U.S. law enforcement began issuing commands to neutralize the activity. KV-botnet is the name given to a network of compromised small office and home office SOHO routers and firewall devices across the...

BreachForums Admin Pompompurin Gets 20-Year Supervised Sentence

By Deeba Ahmed Conor Brian Fitzpatrick Pompompurin on the forum launched BreachForums in March 2022 after the FBI took down the then-popular cybercrime marketplace, RaidForums. This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: BreachForums Admin Pompompurin Gets 20-Year Supervised Sentence...

DoJ Charges 19 Worldwide in $68 Million xDedic Dark Web Marketplace Fraud

The U.S. Department of Justice DoJ said it charged 19 individuals worldwide in connection with the now-defunct xDedic Marketplace, which is estimated to have facilitated more than $68 million in fraud. In wrapping up its investigation into the dark web portal, the agency said the transnational...

A Major Ransomware Takedown Suffers a Strange Setback

After an 18-month rampage, global law enforcement finally moved against the notorious Alphv/BlackCat ransomware group. Within hours, the operation faced obstacles...

PikaBot distributed via malicious search ads

During this past year, we have seen an increase in the use of malicious ads malvertising and specifically those via search engines, to drop malware targeting businesses. In fact, browser-based attacks overall have been a lot more common if we include social engineering campaigns. Criminals have...

Qakbot Takedown Aftermath: Mitigations and Protecting Against Future Threats

The U.S. Department of Justice DOJ and the FBI recently collaborated in a multinational operation to dismantle the notorious Qakbot malware and botnet. While the operation was successful in disrupting this long-running threat, concerns have arisen as it appears that Qakbot may still pose a danger...

This New Tool Aims to Keep Terrorism Content Off the Internet

Small platforms without resources to handle takedown requests have been weaponized by terrorist groups that share their content online. A free new tool is coming to help clean house...

Mozi Botnet Takedown: Who Killed the IoT Zombie Botnet?

By Waqas The Mozi Botnet, one of the largest IoT botnets, has been taken down, but the responsible party remains unknown. This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Mozi Botnet Takedown: Who Killed the IoT Zombie Botnet?...

Europol Dismantles Ragnar Locker Ransomware Infrastructure, Nabs Key Developer

Europol on Friday announced the takedown of the infrastructure associated with Ragnar Locker ransomware, alongside the arrest of a "key target" in France. "In an action carried out between 16 and 20 October, searches were conducted in Czechia, Spain, and Latvia," the agency said. "The main...

Qakbot-affiliated actors distribute Ransom Knight malware despite infrastructure takedown

The threat actors behind the Qakbot malware have been conducting a campaign since early August 2023 in which they have been distributing Ransom Knight ransomware and the Remcos backdoor via phishing emails. Notably, this activity appeared to begin before the FBI seized Qakbot infrastructure in la...

A week in security (August 28 - September 3)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: 2.6 million DuoLingo users have scraped data released Google strengthens its Workplace suite protection Meal delivery service PurFoods announces major data breach Cisco VPNs without MFA are under attack by ransomware operator "An influx of Elons," a hospital visit,...

Qakbot Takedown: The Road Ahead is Long and Winding

A long and challenging journey against cybercrime around the world...

Qakbot botnet infrastructure suffers major takedown

The Qakbot botnet has suffered a major setback after its infrastructure was heavily disrupted by US and European law enforcement agencies. Operation DuckHunt, as it was codenamed, is possibly the largest US-led financial and technical disruption of a botnet infrastructure. Not only did the agenci...

FBI Dismantles QakBot Malware, Frees 700,000 Computers, Seizes $8.6 Million

A coordinated law enforcement effort codenamed Operation Duck Hunt has felled QakBot, a notorious Windows malware family that's estimated to have compromised over 700,000 computers globally and facilitated financial fraud as well as ransomware. To that end, the U.S. Justice Department DoJ said th...

Owner of BreachForums Pleads Guilty to Cybercrime and Child Pornography Charges

Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, the owner of the now-defunct BreachForums website, has pleaded guilty to charges related to his operation of the cybercrime forum as well as having child pornography images. The development, first reported by DataBreaches.net last week, comes nearly four months after...

A week in security (June 26 - July 2)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: A proxyjacking campaign is looking for vulnerable SSH servers New technique can defeat voice authentication "after only six tries" "Free" Evil Dead Rise movie scam lurks in Amazon listings Spyware app LetMeSpy hacked, tracked user data posted online Online safety...

Criminal secure messaging system takedown: 6500+ arrests and €900 million+ seized

In 2020, we reported on how law enforcement managed to compromise a secure communications system set up by and for criminals. Now, Europol has published a progress report showing the enormous impact the infiltration of the encrypted communications tool EncroChat made. EncroChat, a company based i...