The Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced a coordinated law enforcement operation to disrupt Netwalker, an advanced form of ransomware.
Netwalker has targeted a range of victims including businesses, municipalities, hospitals, law enforcement, emergency services, school districts, colleges, and universities, the DoJ reports. Its operators have specifically targeted the healthcare sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Attackers who deploy Netwalker, which operates in a ransomware-as-a-service model, usually gain access to a target machine days or weeks before a ransom note is delivered, officials say. During this time, they escalate privileges and spread Netwalker across devices. Once they have infected enough computers, they send a ransom note.
So far, officials have charged Canadian national Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins in relation to the Netwalker…