European law enforcement agencies, with technical assistance from Microsoft, Symantec and AnubisNetworks, seized computer servers used by cybercriminals to infect hundreds of thousands of computers around the world, writes David Finn, Microsoft cybercrime center associate general counsel and executive director.
The malware was designed to steal personal and financial information, as well as money from unsuspecting consumers.
The effort was made by Europol’s European Cybercrime Center (EC3) and agencies from different part of the world participated including United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
In February this year, EC3 signed AnubisNetworks, a cyber security and threat intelligence IT company, in order to initiate cooperation to combat the global threat of cybercrime. The fight against the growing problem of cybercrime requires cooperation between law enforcement and private industry.
Finn added, “The simultaneous seizure of servers in four countries followed a U.S. lawsuit filed last week under seal in federal court by Microsoft and the financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center.”
It requires diverse set of skills including sophisticated computer forensics, big data analysis and legal strategy and so law enforcement and the private sector worked together to protect people online.
Kaspersky’s report hinted about a separate attack on financial institutions by cybercrime, which resulted in the theft of hundreds and millions of dollars. The complexity of fighting cybercrime is bigger than any one company and organization.
Davin Finn warned computer users in his blog to keep antivirus software up to date and firewalls turned on, using updates and genuine software, avoiding suspicious links in mails and visiting only trusted and known websites.
Shilpa Khatri
