Europol has shut down a botnet that had infected 3.2 million computers worldwide with malware designed to steal online banking credentials.
Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) coordinated the joint international assault from its operational centre in The Hague to target the Ramnit botnet which infected the PCs of users running Windows operating systems.
Working in tandem with Microsoft, Symantec and AnubisNetworks the joint effort turned the lights off on command and control servers and redirected 300 Internet domain addresses used by the botnet's operators.
Europol deputy director operations, Wil van Gemert, says: "This successful operation shows the importance of international law enforcement working together with private industry in the fight against the global threat of cybercrime. We will continue our efforts in taking down botnets and disrupting the core infrastructures used by criminals to conduct a variety of cybercrimes."
Separately, the the US Justice Department has announced a reward of up to $3 million for information leading to the arrest of prolific Russian cyber criminal, Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev who has been charged for his role as an administrator of the GameOver Zeus botnet.
The software was used to capture bank account numbers, passwords, personal identification numbers and other information necessary to log into online banking accounts. It is believed GameOver Zeus is responsible for more than one million computer infections, resulting in financial losses of more than $100 million.
Bogachev is on the FBI’s Cyber’s Most Wanted list and is believed to be at large in Russia.