Microsoft and the Europol agency revealed on Wednesday that it has collaborated, with the participation of the United States government, to neutralize the infrastructure that has allowed the propagation of a virus of Russian origin and the sale of information collected thanks to it.
This virus called Lumma Stealer (also called Lumma) is “the malware of a favorite of a favorite used to steal data from hundreds of actors with a threat to cybersecurity,” summarized Microsoft in a press release.
Easy to implement spyware
This program is a “Maas” (malware as a service), that is, the software sold online and usable by any cybercriminal and not only for its designers.
Available since 2022, it has been developed by a programmer established in Russia and called Shamel.
Between mid -March and mid -April, the Microsoft unit dedicated to cyber crime (DCU) has identified about 394,000 computers equipped with Windows operational software and infected by Lumma Stealer in the world.
According to a map published on Wednesday, they concentrated essentially in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Western Europe and Japan.
Then he confiscated the US federal justice, in this case a court in Georgia, who gave green light to an action to disturb the operation of the virus.
2,300 blocked Internet addresses
In collaboration with Europol, the US Ministry of Justice and the Japanese Cybercrime Control Center (JC3), Microsoft has managed to block, suspend or erase around 2,300 Internet addresses that formed the Lumma framework.
The United States Ministry of Justice has also managed to take control of the central entity of the Lumma ecosystem. This has embarrassed the use of the platform dedicated to the resale of the strengthened data thanks to the virus.
In an interview given at the end of 2023, the G0onxja Cybersecurity Specialist Blogger, Shamel said they have around 400 clients. He even created a logo associated with his software, which represents a white bird on a blue background.
“This operation is a clear example of the way in which public-private partnerships transform the fight against cyber crime,” said the European Center for Crime Criminal in Europol, Edvardas Sileris, cited in a statement from the European Agency.
Source: BFM TV
