French authorities launched a massive operation on Thursday to clean up computers infected by a cyber espionage programme that has affected millions of users around the world, RFI reports.
Paris chief prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement posted on social media platform LinkedIn:
On the eve of the Olympics, this operation demonstrates that different players in France and abroad are mobilised to fight against all forms of cybercrime.
She said investigators were targeting a network of bots suspected of infecting computers with PlugX malware and stealing data from them, “particularly for espionage purposes.”
Analysts and investigators were able to take control of a server that controlled millions of infected computers, it said, and are in the process of remediating the situation.
The operation is expected to last several months, having already helped victims in several European countries, the statement said.
According to the statement, “several million infected machines” have been detected worldwide, “including 3,000 in France.”
The statement did not mention a specific threat to the Paris Olympics. However, the French government’s cybersecurity agency warned last week that ransomware attacks would be “inevitable” during the Games, which officially open on Friday.
