Federal authorities announced Thursday they successfully dismantled four massive criminal computer networks that had compromised more than 3 million devices across the globe, including hundreds of thousands within the United States.
The coordinated international law enforcement effort involved agencies from the United States, Germany, and Canada working together to shut down the criminal operations known as Aisuru, KimWolf, JackSkid, and Mossad, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
These criminal networks primarily targeted everyday internet-connected household items such as security cameras, digital recording devices, and wireless routers to build their illegal operations. The cyber criminals then used these compromised devices to overwhelm computer systems and servers worldwide with massive traffic attacks, including systems belonging to the U.S. military’s computer network. In certain instances, the criminals demanded ransom payments from their targets, federal officials said.
The perpetrators launched hundreds of thousands of these overwhelming cyber attacks using the infected devices, federal prosecutors stated.
“Today’s disruption of four powerful botnets highlights our commitment to eliminate emerging cyber threats to the Department of Defense and its warfighters,” said Kenneth DeChellis, a special agent in charge at the Department of Defense Investigative Service.
The simultaneous law enforcement action across three countries focused on identifying and targeting the individuals responsible for operating these illegal networks, Justice Department officials said.
Nearly two dozen major technology corporations assisted in the operation, including Amazon Web Services, Google, PayPal, and Nokia. The effort also involved the European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol, which has been running specialized operations against cyber criminals since 2017.
