The FBI in the US, the UK National Crime Agency and a number of other international agencies have cracked down against the Dridex botnet. One man has been charged and a coordinated effort to sinkhole thousands of compromised computers which effectively cutting them off from the botnet’s control.

Dridex, also known as Bugat, has stolen tens of millions of dollars from victims worldwide. It adds itself to the infected computer as a botnet and injects itself into the victim’s web browser in order to steal information, including banking credentials.

As is often the case, Dridex is spread through a phishing scam. Dridex was the third largest financial threat last year, accounting for some 29,000 detections.

The U.S. accounted for the largest number of infections in 2015. It seems to be enjoying a resurgence.

Yesterday’s operation saw a 30-year-old Moldovan man charged by prosecutors in the US for offences including criminal conspiracy, unauthorized computer access with intent to defraud, damaging a computer, wire fraud, and bank fraud. His extradition to the US is currently being sought following his arrest in Cyprus in August.

Ther FBI and the UK Crime Agency have gotten an injunction to start directing the botnet to a sinkhole rather than its own command and control servers.

Source: Symantec