Happy Data Privacy Day! How about some good news? 😊

Emotet Takedown! (For now)

Per this item in Hacker News, law enforcement agencies from 8 countries worked together to takedown the infrastructure behind the Emotet cybercrime malware and botnet. Emotet evolved into lucrative and dangerous multi-purpose malware that loaded other malware. More good news: an Emotet “eraser” module is being rolled out by law enforcement to uninstall the malware by March 25, 2021. Here’s hoping 🤞

Netwalker Ransomware Takedown!

Per Bleeping Computer, the US DoJ confirmed a successful takedown of dark web sites and the arrest of a Canadian national involved. (I’m sorry 😞 )

Netwalker ransomware has been operating since 2019 and like many groups in 2020 moved into extortion, locking systems AND stealing data to release publicly if the ransom did not get paid. They made a lot of money – $25 million in just 5 months. They aren’t gone but this hit them where it hurts.