‘Operation Duck Hunt’ was a multinational effort that was able to infiltrate and dismantle Qakbot, a malware that could remotely control over 700,000 computers around the world.

The operation has been described as “one of the largest US-led disruptions of a botnet infrastructure”. It was led by FBI forces, with a collaboration of partners in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Latvia and the UK. 

After seizing control of the botnet, officials remotely removed the malicious software agent from thousands of infected computers.

“The FBI neutralised 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.”

The Qakbot software was believed to have been used to facilitate 40 ransomware attacks over 18 months, allowing hackers...