Europol's cybercrime prosecution team "dropped" it botnet RAMNIT, which had infected 3.2 million computers worldwide.
The NCA (National Crime Agency) teamed up with the corresponding departments in the Netherlands, Italy and Germany to close down the command and control servers used by the botnet.
The RAMNIT was responsible for the spread malware μέσω φαινομενικά αθώων links που αποστέλλονταν με phishing emails ή websites of social network. It was used by scammers mainly to extort money from owners who were Windows users.
“This malware essentially gives criminals a backdoor so they can take control of it computer σας, να έχουν πρόσβαση στις εικόνες σας, τους κωδικούς πρόσβασης σας ή άλλα privacy. They still use it to send out further spam messages or launch illegal attacks on other websites," said Steve Pye of the NCA.
Today, servers are being analyzed and research is under way, the NCA said. Please note that Europol has been notified of the existence of RAMNIT by Microsoft.