Operation Endgame follow-up leads to detentions across Smoakloader ecosystem

• Europol follows up on last year's Operation Endgame botnet takedown
• It made multiple arrests and home searches
• Some suspects cooperated, but this could be only the beginning

In a follow-up to its May 2024 botnet takedown operation codenamed Operation Endgame, Europol said it made multiple arrests.

The European law enforcement agency, together with a number of national partners, had shut down some of the biggest malware droppers, including IcedID, SystemBC, Pikabot, Smokeloader, and Bumblebee. The operation spanned numerous countries and multiple continents.

Now, in a press release published on the Europol website, it was said that the operation continued, but this time against customers of Smokeloader.

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Smokeloader is a pay-per-install malware loader, in which cybercriminals pay to use the service (which has already infected numerous devices) and drop their own malware. Europol said criminals used Smokeloader for keylogging, webcam access, ransomware deployment, cryptomining, and more.

“Law enforcement tracked down the customers as they were registered in a database seized during Operation Endgame,” Europol explained, saying these people now faced “house searches, arrest warrants or ‘knock and talks’”.

It did not discuss the number of people involved, but it did say that “several suspects” cooperated with the authorities by facilitating the examination of their digital devices. Several other suspects admitted to have resold the Smokeloader services at a markup.

Just like in Operation Endgame, multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in the follow-up, including the FBI, Secret Service, the DoD, DCIS, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Czech police, Danish police, French National Police, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, Prosecutor General’s Office Frankfurt am Main – Cyber Crime Center, The Netherlands’ National Investigations and Special Operations, and The Netherlands Police.

The agency also said that the operation has not yet concluded and that “new actions” will soon be announced on the website operation-endgame.com.

“Anyone with information is invited to contact the authorities through this website,” it said. “In addition, suspects involved in these and other botnets, who have not yet been arrested, will be held directly accountable for their actions.”

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