Authorities across Europe on Tuesday said they’d seized control over Emotet, a prolific malware strain and cybercrime-as-service operation. Investigators say the action could help quarantine more than a million Microsoft Windows systems currently compromised with malware tied to Emotet infections.
First surfacing in 2014, Emotet began as a banking trojan, but over the years it has evolved into one of the more aggressive platforms for spreading malware that lays the groundwork for ransomware attacks.
In a statement published Wednesday morning on an action dubbed “Operation Ladybird,” the European police agency Europol said the investigation involved authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, United States, the United Kingdom, France, Lithuania, Canada and Ukraine.