Security News > 2021 > January > European Authorities Disrupt Emotet — World's Most Dangerous Malware
Law enforcement agencies from as many as eight countries dismantled the infrastructure of Emotet, a notorious email-based Windows malware behind several botnet-driven spam campaigns and ransomware attacks over the past decade.
"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."
"Analysis of accounts used by the group behind Emotet showed $10.5 million being moved over a two-year period on just one Virtual Currency platform," the NCA said, adding "Almost $500,000 had been spent by the group over the same period to maintain its criminal infrastructure."
With at least 700 servers operated by Emotet across the world now having been taken down from the inside, machines infected by the malware are set to be directed to this law enforcement-infrastructure, thus preventing further exploitation.
The Dutch police, which seized two central servers located in the country, said it has deployed a software update to neutralize the threat posed by Emotet effectively.
Corroborating the findings, Malwarebytes researchers said the payload to remove the malware will be pushed via the same channels that were used to distribute the original Emotet, with the uninstaller deleting the service associated with the malware and its autorun Registry key.