Threat Awareness – Emotet, the Everlasting Email Enemy, Eradicated?

The famous jingle, “Ding-dong! The witch is dead” keeps coming to mind. But in a globally coordinated effort dubbed “Operation LadyBird,” law enforcement has dealt a crippling blow to the kingpin of email adversaries, Emotet. Europol released this statement yesterday and it was swiftly shared across numerous cyber news outlets. However, in an exclusive shortly after the press release, ZDNet reported that law enforcement in the Netherlands are in the process of deploying an Emotet update that will remove any remaining infections on March 25th, 2021. If you’re thinking why wait? Aptly stated by Graham Cluley, “removing an Emotet infection without the knowledge of the victim has one significant drawback – the user may not ever know that their computers were once compromised. The very existence of Emotet, if discovered by a company or home user, can act as an alarm that other malware may have been implanted on their computers by different gangs or if a data breach occurred. After March 25, with Emotet gone, it will be more difficult to investigate what may have happened. So check your systems now…” Much guidance has been published and shared by WaterISAC on detecting and responding to Emotet. Members are encouraged to monitor their systems for signs of Emotet before it’s too late. Read more at Tripwire.