FBI and European Partners Seize Major Malware Network in Blow to Global Cybercrime

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announces in Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 2023, the multinational take down operation of Qakbot malware. Sarah Reingewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP

LOS ANGELES—U.S. officials said Tuesday that the FBI and its European partners infiltrated and seized control of a major global malware network used for more than 15 years to commit a gamut of online crimes including crippling ransomware attacks.

They then remotely removed the malicious software agent—known as Qakbot—from thousands of infected computers.