Europol destroys a network of cyber attacks

The infrastructure of the Emotet system, which was mainly used by organized crime networks, is now under the control of the authorities, the Hague-based European Union Rule of Law Agency (Europol) announced. The operation took place after two years of investigations in eight countries. Europol did not report any arrests in connection with the investigation, which has been led by Germany and the Netherlands. Emot has been one of the "most dangerous tools for cyber attacks" in recent years, a Europol spokesman said, adding that the software was first launched in 2014 as a so-called Trojan. This malicious system used a seemingly harmless Word document to access a computer system. Criminals used these systems to gain access to banking records, sell stolen data, or extort money from blocked data. The computer virus was hidden in fake invoices, notices or false information about COVID-19, reports DPA.