Monero Cryptojacking Malware Infects 850,000 Computers But Is Destroyed By French Police

French law enforcement authorities recently have been able to shut down a major Monero (XMR) cryptojacking operation. According to the Cybercrime Fighting Center (C3N), the malware, known as Retadup Monero, infected a total of 850,000 computers before the authorities could finally finish its activities by tricking it.

As reported by BBC, the police team was tipped off by Avast, a cybersecurity company, that the backed infrastructure of the malware was located in Paris.

The police enforcement acted fast and was able to shut down the operation. They located the main control tower of the network and tricked it into remotely shutting off all of its programs, which prevented the hackers from continuing their crimes. They did it by cloning the network and issuing the orders from their own servers.

Most of the affected computers were from Central and South America. Peru was the country that was most hit and Venezuela followed it. Not only the hackers had backend infrastructure in France, but they also had a small operation running in the U. S., the police revealed.

No one knows exactly how much money the group has made on this attack. Estimates affirm that several million may have been obtained this way. The amount was so high because the criminals targeted people who owned computers with several cores.

At the moment, nobody from the cybercriminals was arrested. The police have also affirmed that the operation can be started again at any time, so this is, unfortunately, a very easy crime to pull off and run away.