Emotet Malware Infected 1.6Mln Computers Causing Millions in Damage - US Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th January, 2021) The US government is cooperating with Sweden, Ukraine and Lithuania in shutting down the infrastructure of the Emotet botnet that has caused hundreds of millions of Dollars in damage to computers around the world, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Thursday.

"The Justice Department today announced its participation in a multinational operation involving actions in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to disrupt and take down the infrastructure of the malware and botnet known as Emotet," the release said.

Officials in Lithuania, Sweden and Ukraine assisted in this major cyber investigative action, the Justice Department noted.

"The Emotet malware and botnet infected hundreds of thousands of computers throughout the United States, including our critical infrastructure, and caused millions of dollars in damage to victims worldwide," Acting Deputy US Attorney General John Carlin said in the release.

According to a search warrant affidavit, Emotet is a family of malware that targets critical industries worldwide, including banking, e�commerce, healthcare, academia, government and technology. Emotet malware primarily infects victim computers through spam email messages containing malicious attachments or hyperlinks, according to the release.

From: Martin Sieff - martinsieff1@gmail.com