The European agency Europol announced Wednesday that it had neutralized Emotet, the "world's most dangerous" malware, after it hacked hundreds of thousands of computers and servers, including some at the French justice ministry.
Almost $ 150 million was allegedly extorted.
It was the software "the biggest and the most dangerous which has been detected for four years", according to the director of the fight against cybercrime at the central direction of the Judicial Police, Catherine Chambon.
Emotet, malicious software that has been behind the hacking of hundreds of thousands of computers and servers, has been neutralized, European agency Europol said on Wednesday.
Europe 1 takes stock of what we know.
>> Find Europe Matin in replay and podcast here
Malicious emails to install harmful software
The software operated in the "botnet" mode, a network of hacked computers, allowing to send malicious mails on a very large scale.
"Emotet distributed its 'malware' [harmful software,
editor's note
] through Microsoft Word files and links that were used by victims," says Catherine Chambon.
We could thus receive them in an email apparently sent by a trusted person or an institution, and click in good faith.
"The result was then very quickly visible, since the machine became inoperative."
In France, services of the Ministry of Justice and Parisian magistrates and lawyers were particularly affected.
Data looting or immediate ransom demands
Once introduced into computers, the fraudulent software served as a gateway to facilitate attacks, data looting, or immediate ransom demands to unlock the machine.
No less than $ 150 million would have been extorted by hackers.
However, it is difficult to have a precise idea of the number of victims, because the filing of complaints is not systematic in this kind of case.
>> READ ALSO
- Taking advantage of the Covid-19 crisis, hackers go on the attack
To dismantle the network and ensure its "non-reconstruction", it was necessary to coordinate the efforts of eight countries, including the United States, Canada and France.
But the hackers have not yet been arrested and there may remain a risk of "redundancies" which could allow cybercriminals to "start another system which would take over from Emotet", according to Catherine Chambon.