The United States Department of Justice has released details about the agency's effort to take down an international malware operation known as Avalanche. The malware operates multi-million dollar rackets including a money laundering network. Cyber security experts around the globe contributed to this four-year probe which has since come to an end.

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The team working on the Avalanche case is composed of prosecutors and investigators from 40 countries. Leading the team is the Public Prosecutor's office based in Verden, Germany and police authorities in Luneberg. Local German authorities were assisted by the U.S. DoJ, the Europol, and Eurojust.

In a statement posted on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's website, FBI Cyber Division assistant director Scott Smith said, "Cyber criminals can victimize millions of users in a moment from anywhere in the world. This takedown highlights the importance of collaborating with our international law enforcement partners against this evolution of organized crime in the virtual."

The investigation was able to uncover a massive multinational malware project that was started in 2009. Hackers behind the Avalanche project use infected emails, attachments, and links to lure victims into their network. Another scheme used by the hackers is ransomware, where the victim's files are encrypted and held hostage until they pay the required ransom.

Once infected, hackers use stolen user information like username and passwords to transfer money from the user's bank accounts. The stolen money was then redirected to the hacking group's other criminal connections using a double fast-flux infrastructure to cover their tracks and avoid detection.

The group behind Avalanched used more than 20 strains of malware to initiate their attacks. Among the confirmed malware strains used by the group are pandabaker, xswkit, goznym, urizone, marcher, and matsnu.

According to Tech News World, five suspected hackers were apprehended, 37 premises were searched, and 39 servers were taken down. Investigations revealed that the Avalanche have victims spanning 180 different countries.