FBI and European partners seize major malware network

U.S. officials say the FBI and its partners in Europe infiltrated and seized control of a major malware network. The network was used for more than 15 years to commit a gamut of online crimes including crippling ransomware attacks. The authorities then remotely removed its malicious software agent — known as Qakbot — from thousands of infected computers. U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said the criminal network had facilitated about 40 ransomware attacks in the Los Angeles area alone over 18 months.