USA, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria involved in an FBI operation against a global cybercrime network

An international network of computers infected with Sality malware was neutralized following a coordinated operation by the United States, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. According to the FBI, the action targeted one of the oldest and most extensive computer infrastructures of this kind, active since 2003 and associated with Russia.

At its peak, the network allegedly gave hackers control over approximately one million devices. Over time, authorities identified around 11 million IP addresses associated with the infrastructure. The compromised computers were allegedly used for cyberattacks as well as cryptocurrency theft.

Sality was difficult to dismantle because it operated in a decentralized manner. Infected devices communicated directly with one another without relying on a single central server, making it difficult to identify and block the network.

The specialists involved in the operation managed to infiltrate the malware’s infrastructure and sever the connections between the infected computers and the systems used by hackers to control them. The FBI praised the cooperation between the four countries, which was considered essential to neutralizing a network active for more than two decades.