Europol press releases and official announcements

Europol's Largest Ever Operation Endgame: Four Arrested, 100 Servers and 2,000 Domains Disrupted

May 30, 2024, 08:33 AM

Authorities have arrested four people and taken down or disrupted more than 100 servers in a major international anti-malware operation, Europol announced. The operation, dubbed Operation Endgame, was coordinated from Europol's headquarters between May 27 and 29, 2024. The operation targeted several malware droppers, including IcedID, SystemBC, Pikabot, SmokeLoader, Bumblebee, and TrickBot. Police forces from Germany, the UK, the US, France, and the Netherlands participated in the sting, which also resulted in the seizure of over 2,000 domains. The suspects were arrested in Armenia and Ukraine. This is considered the largest ever operation against botnets, aimed at dismantling ransomware networks spreading via infected emails. Police coordinated by the European Union's justice agency called it the biggest ever international operation against this form of cybercrime.