Emotet has been one of the biggest security threats in recent years. This Trojan has been present in many attacks around the world. Europol has dismantled one of the largest botnet networks. It emerged in 2014 and since then it has been improving over time. Now he already has a definitive date for his disappearance: March 25 .
Emotet will be uninstalled on March 25
Police have begun distributing an Emotet module to infected devices that will uninstall the malware on that date, March 25. From Europol they have indicated the interruption of the botnet, which has been used on numerous occasions to distribute malicious attachments by mail that could install malware such as TrickBot and Qbot.
Milkream, a security researcher, recently discovered a new module that Emotet had started to install on infected computers. This module’s mission is to uninstall the Emotet malware from all infected devices on March 25, specifically at 12:00 Central European time, since the command and control servers are located in Germany.
It is unknown at the moment why they have chosen exactly that date and why wait two months for it. However, with the control of the botnet by the authorities and distributing the module that will permanently uninstall it, it seems that it will be a definitive interruption, which could make it very difficult for Emotet to return.
Emotet, the gateway for many malware
During these years Emotet has been the gateway for many varieties of malware . Many malicious software that reached users did so through this botnet. It is estimated that in recent years it represented almost half of the links used to download viruses worldwide.
Emotet has been a very accessible option for many groups of cybercriminals . They made it possible to rent it out to others so they could deliver banking Trojans, ransomware, and other types of malware that compromised the cybersecurity of victims.
Basically we can say that it has functioned as a kind of storage for computer viruses . It had hundreds of servers around the world, hence the important infrastructure it has had. It has served a large number of hacker groups around the world.
Now the network will be a little more secure . On March 25, it will be uninstalled from the victims’ computers. Will it be a definitive ending? In any case, we must always bear in mind the importance of properly protecting our equipment, to defend ourselves from any other similar threat. It is essential to have security tools to protect us, but also to have the systems updated at all times. In addition, common sense will always be essential to avoid making mistakes that can help the entry of this type of security threats.
We leave you an article where we explain how to know if Emotet is installed on a computer. It is important to know if we can be infected by this threat and thus be able to take action.