Microsoft, Other IT Companies Target Well-Known Cybercrime Ring
TECHDIGEST – Microsoft and other technology companies claimed on Wednesday that they attempted to thwart a cybercriminal organization whose destructive software has been used in ransomware assaults and other hacks throughout the world.
Microsoft (MSFT) was able to confiscate 65 internet domains used by the hacking gang behind widely used malware known as ZLoader thanks to a court order from the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, according to Microsoft.
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Since its discovery in 2019, ZLoader has been utilized in a slew of financially motivated hacking schemes, many of which have targeted North American businesses. According to Microsoft, the hackers were also involved in a tool for delivering a sort of ransomware that has to be employed in hacks against health-care institutions.
Microsoft said it had identified one of the individuals involved in the hacking ring and had passed the information on to police officials.
Lumen and Palo Alto Networks, both headquartered in the United States, as well as ESET, based in Slovakia, were among the other cybersecurity businesses involved in the takedown.
Last week, Microsoft announced that it had used a court order to disable seven internet domains that were being used by a hacker group linked to Russian intelligence, most likely in support of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The steps aren’t fatal to the hacker groups, but they represent a significant step toward making it more difficult for them to function.
“Every time we have a successful takedown like this, we raise the cost of doing business for them and set an example for their successors that there is a higher risk connected with their nefarious operations,” said Wendi Whitmore, head of Palo Alto Networks’ security division.
