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   Operation Endgame follow-up leads to detentions across Smoakloader ecosystem   
      
   Date:   
   Thu, 10 Apr 2025 15:30:00 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Smokeloader customers were arrested, and their homes searched in a follow-up   
   to the 2024 Operation Endgame.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   In a follow-up to its May 2024 botnet takedown operation codenamed Operation   
   Endgame, Europol said it made multiple arrests.    
      
   Last year, the European law enforcement agency, together with a number of   
   national partners, 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.    
      
   New actions    
      
   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, Germanys Federal Criminal Police Office, Prosecutor Generals   
   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.   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/operation-endgame-follow-up-leads-to-de   
   tentions-across-smoakloader-ecosystem   
      
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