France initiates international “disinfection” to exterminate RAT prior to the Olympics
On the eve of the Olympics, French authorities are cleaning devices affected by a botnet that posed espionage threats.
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On the eve of the Olympics, French authorities are cleaning devices affected by a botnet that posed espionage threats.
The Judicial Court of Paris (Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris) has started an investigation into a botnet network used for espionage purposes, which has affected several million victims worldwide.
In a press release, the authority stated that Sekoia’s cybersecurity company analysts identified and took control of a command and control server at the center of a network of several million infected machines, including 3,000 in France.
The victims’ machines had been infected by the PlugX malware, a “RAT” (Remote Access Trojan) type malicious software. Once the machine is infected, the software receives instructions from a central server to execute various commands and capture data on the system. This server received requests from nearly 100,000 separate victim machines each day.
Authorities, working with Sekoia, have found a technological solution to disinfect the devices that fell victim to the botnet. The planned disinfection solution was presented to France's foreign partners via the Europol agency.
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The operation was launched on July 18th, 2024, and will continue for several months, primarily in France but also in Malta, Portugal, Croatia, Slovakia, and Austria.
The Paris prosecutor's office emphasizes the importance of daily IT security practices and advises using updated antivirus software. By the end of 2024, the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI) will individually notify French victims.
As France opens the Olympic Games, cybersecurity vigilance is at its peak. ANNSI, France’s national cybersecurity agency, met on Thursday, prompting French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to warn the public that cyberattacks during the Paris Olympic games would be ‘inevitable.’
"We are a target. There will be cyberattacks. The key thing is to limit their scope," Attal told reporters at ANNSI headquarters. “Our country is more than ever a target. We are ready to face it,” Attal said.