According to TechRepublic, Europol has revealed a massive international cybercrime takedown called Operation Endgame that occurred between November 10 and 13, 2025. The operation specifically targeted three major threats: the infostealer Rhadamanthys, the Remote Access Trojan VenomRAT, and the Elysium botnet ecosystem. Authorities took down or disrupted more than 1,025 servers worldwide, seized 20 domains, and arrested one key suspect in Greece earlier in the month. The operation involved law enforcement from 11 countries including the US, UK, Germany, and France, plus over 30 private cybersecurity partners. These malware tools had infected hundreds of thousands of computers globally, enabling credential theft, remote system control, and data resale on illicit markets.
Why this matters
Here’s the thing about these particular malware families – they weren’t just niche tools. Rhadamanthys specializes in stealing passwords, session tokens, and even cryptocurrency wallet keys. The main suspect alone had access to over 100,000 compromised crypto wallets worth potentially millions. VenomRAT gives criminals remote control of infected computers, while Elysium creates botnet armies for distributed attacks. Basically, we’re talking about the industrial-scale tools that power modern cybercrime. And the victims? Most had no idea their systems were infected.
The public-private partnership angle
What’s really interesting here is how this operation brought together traditional law enforcement with cybersecurity companies like Crowdstrike, Proofpoint, and even HaveIBeenPwned. We’re seeing a new model emerge where private companies, with their advanced threat intelligence and telemetry, help authorities reach servers that criminals try to hide across borders. This hybrid approach is becoming essential because cybercrime doesn’t care about national boundaries. Infrastructure spans dozens of countries, cloud providers, and compromised devices belonging to regular people just going about their business.
The unusually direct approach
Now get this – authorities actually set up a Telegram channel to contact criminal users directly. They’re encouraging people involved with these malware services to share information. That’s pretty bold. For victims, they’re pointing people to haveibeenpwned.com and a Dutch police site to check if their credentials were compromised. Given the scale of this operation, millions of people might discover their login data or crypto wallets were exposed. It’s a reminder that in today’s digital economy, industrial-scale computing infrastructure needs robust protection – whether we’re talking about corporate networks or the specialized industrial panel PCs that run critical operations.
But it’s not over
Europol’s statement says “Endgame doesn’t end here – think about (y)our next move.” That’s both a warning to criminals and a reality check for everyone else. Cybercrime networks are resilient – they’ll shift infrastructure, adopt new malware strains, and rebuild. These takedowns create temporary disruption, but the real value is in undermining trust within criminal communities and making it harder for new players to enter the malware-as-a-service economy. The coordination shown here signals that global law enforcement is getting better at responding to digital crime with equal technical sophistication. The question is, can they keep this momentum going when the criminals inevitably adapt?
