
The hackers behind Qakbot, a renowned malware operation that was recently 'dismantled' by the FBI, are still active and continue to target new victims.
The FBI announced in August that it had successfully disrupted and dismantled the infrastructure of the long-running Qakbot malware, which had infected more than 700,000 machines worldwide to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. At the time the FBI said that the takedown included the seizure of 52 servers which the agency said would 'permanently dismantle' the botnet.
Despite these efforts, the hackers behind the Qakbot malware continue to spam new victims, according to new research from Cisco Talos.
In early August, the researchers had observed hackers carrying out a campaign, during which they had been distributing Ransom Knight ransomware, a recent rebrand of the Cyclops ransomware-as-a-service operation and the Remcos remote access trojan, which provides attackers with full access to a victim's machine by sending phishing emails. Talos researcher Guilherme Venere tells TechCrunch that the hackers have also started to spread the RedLine information stealer malware and the Darkgate backdoor.
Talos assesses with moderate confidence that Qakbot-affiliated hackers are behind this campaign, noting that the filenames used, along with themes of urgent financial matters, are consistent with previous Qakbot campaigns.
Talos notes that the malicious file names used are written in Italy, which suggests that the hackers are mostly targeting users in that region, adding that the campaign has also targeted English and German-speaking individuals. Venere tells TechCrunch that identifying the true scope of the campaign is challenging, but he said that the Qakbot distribution network is highly effective and has the ability to push large campaigns.
The FBI said that the previous victims were a power engineering firm based in Illinois, financial services organizations located in Alabama, Kansas, and Maryland, a defense manufacturer based in Maryland, and a food distribution company in Southern California.
The campaign, which started before the FBI's takedown, is ongoing, the researchers said. This indicates that operation Duck Hunt may not have affected Qakbot operators' spam delivery infrastructure, but rather their command and control servers, Talos said.
Venere said he was not sure whether the deal was a victory or a defeat. Talos said that the attackers may choose to rebuilt the Qakbot infrastructure, enabling them to fully resume pre-takedown activity.