International Operation to Counter Beebone Botnet
A multinational task force, consisting of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT), the FBI and the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit, was recently established to tackle the Beebone (AAEH) botnet, a virus downloader that paralyzes a computer's defenses by downloading various malwares.
Private companies Intel Security, Kaspersky and Shadowserver were also present in the consultations regarding the destruction of the polymorphic downloader which, according to sources, has affected 12,000 computers to date.
This operation "sucked up" the botnet by identifying the domain names and addresses of the parties involved and then routing its traffic.
Emergency teams around the world have been mobilized to contact victims of the botnet. The number of affected parties is smaller in this case, but the botnet has been deemed by experts to be very sophisticated.
The operation was successfully carried out after which Europol Deputy Director of Operations, Wil van Gemert, said: “This successful operation highlights the importance of international law enforcement agencies working together with the private sector to combat the global threat of cybercrime.”
“We will continue our efforts to combat botnets and disrupt the essential infrastructure used by cybercriminals to commit a wide variety of crimes. Together with the European Union Member States and partners around the world, our goal is to protect people around the world from these criminal activities.”
