• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Security Affairs newsletter Round 532 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

McDonald’s job app exposes data of 64 Million applicants

 | 

Athlete or Hacker? Russian basketball player accused in U.S. ransomware case

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

UK NCA arrested four people over M&S, Co-op cyberattacks

 | 

PerfektBlue Bluetooth attack allows hacking infotainment systems of Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Skoda

 | 

Qantas data breach impacted 5.7 million individuals

 | 

DoNot APT is expanding scope targeting European foreign ministries

 | 

Nippon Steel Solutions suffered a data breach following a zero-day attack

 | 

Iranian group Pay2Key.I2P ramps Up ransomware attacks against Israel and US with incentives for affiliates

 | 

Hackers weaponize Shellter red teaming tool to spread infostealers

 | 

Microsoft Patch Tuesday security updates for July 2025 fixed a zero-day

 | 

Italian police arrested a Chinese national suspected of cyberespionage on a U.S. warrant

 | 

U.S. CISA adds MRLG, PHPMailer, Rails Ruby on Rails, and Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

IT Worker arrested for selling access in $100M PIX cyber heist

 | 

New Batavia spyware targets Russian industrial enterprises

 | 

Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Hunters International ransomware gang shuts down and offers free decryption keys to all victims

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 52

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Hacking
  • Malware
  • FBI: Operation ‘Duck Hunt’ dismantled the Qakbot botnet

FBI: Operation ‘Duck Hunt’ dismantled the Qakbot botnet

Pierluigi Paganini August 30, 2023

FBI coordinated an international law enforcement operation, named Operation ‘Duck Hunt’, that dismantled the Qakbot botnet.

The FBI announced that the Qakbot botnet has been dismantled as a result of an international law enforcement operation named Operation ‘Duck Hunt.’

Qakbot, also known as QBot, QuackBot and Pinkslipbot, is an info-stealing malware that has been active since 2008. The malware spreads via malspam campaigns, it inserts replies in active email threads.

The Duck Hunt operation involved law enforcement agencies from the U.S., France, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Latvia, and the United Kingdom.

Duck Hunt is one of the largest U.S.-led disruptions of a botnet infrastructure used by crooks to commit criminal activities, including ransomware attacks.

In November 2022, experts at the Cybereason Global SOC (GSOC) team observed a surge in Qakbot infections as part of an ongoing aggressive Qakbot malware campaign that led to Black Basta ransomware infections in the US.

According to the FBI’s announcement, crimes associated with Qakbot attacks caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to individuals and businesses in the U.S. and abroad. 

The FBI explained that as part of the operation has gained lawful access to Qakbot’s C2 infrastructure and identified over 700,000 infected computers worldwide. More than 200,000 infected computers were in the U.S.

“Investigators have found evidence that, between October 2021 and April 2023, Qakbot administrators received fees corresponding to approximately $58 million in ransoms paid by victims,” states the Justice Department.

The FBI performed a sinkholing of the botnet and once replaced the C2 infrastructure instructed the bot to download an uninstaller file and execute it to remove the Qakbot malware.

“To disrupt the botnet, the FBI redirected Qakbot traffic to Bureau-controlled servers that instructed infected computers to download an uninstaller file. This uninstaller—created to remove the Qakbot malware—untethered infected computers from the botnet and prevented the installation of any additional malware.” reads the announcement published by the FBI.

“The FBI neutralized this far-reaching criminal supply chain, cutting it off at the knees,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The victims ranged from financial institutions on the East Coast to a critical infrastructure government contractor in the Midwest to a medical device manufacturer on the West Coast.”
 
“All of this was made possible by the dedicated work of FBI Los Angeles, our Cyber Division at FBI Headquarters, and our partners, both here at home and overseas,” added Wray. “The cyber threat facing our nation is growing more dangerous and complex every day. But our success proves that our own network and our own capabilities are more powerful.”

The FBI and the Dutch National Police provided account credentials compromised by the botnet to the data breach notification site Have I Been Pwned. The Dutch National Police also set up a website that allows users to check whether their credentials have been compromised.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Operation ‘Duck Hunt’)


facebook linkedin twitter

Cybercrime FBI hacking news IT Information Security malware Operation 'Duck Hunt' Pierluigi Paganini Qakbot botnet Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 13, 2025
Security Affairs newsletter Round 532 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 12, 2025
McDonald’s job app exposes data of 64 Million applicants
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Security Affairs newsletter Round 532 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

    Breaking News / July 13, 2025

    McDonald’s job app exposes data of 64 Million applicants

    Hacking / July 12, 2025

    Athlete or Hacker? Russian basketball player accused in U.S. ransomware case

    Cyber Crime / July 11, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / July 11, 2025

    UK NCA arrested four people over M&S, Co-op cyberattacks

    Cyber Crime / July 10, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT