In a synchronized international crackdown, the U.S. Department of Justice is teaming up with partners including the Netherlands, Belgium, and Eurojust to take down RedLine and META Infostealers, per an announcement unveiling the collaborative effort to disrupt these pervasive cyber threats.
A multi-agency task force including the FBI, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and others joined the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (JCAT) Operation Magnus, targeting the illicit operations that harvested sensitive information from millions of computers globally, the domains, servers, and Telegram accounts associated with these operations have now been seized, the Justice Department remarked on its website, and in a bid to provide public assistance, a website at www.operation-magnus.com has been set up offering resources for potential victims.
RedLine and META, known for maximizing the harvest of usernames, financial data, and other sensitive information, utilized a decentralized Malware as a Service (MaaS) model enabling affiliates to purchase a license, and then deploy targeted infectious campaigns, often using malvertising and email phishing, reports indicated, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Texas.
Overseeing the investigation is the FBI Austin Cyber Task Force, supported by a cohort of federal law enforcement agencies with Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Karthik Srinivasan leading the prosecution and additional support coming from the Justice Department's liaison prosecutor to Eurojust and Office of International Affairs. Meanwhile, international affiliates from the UK, Australia, and Portugal amongst others are contributing to the ongoing Operation Magnus intending to comb through the complex web spun by RedLine and META Infostealers.
