Europol has announced the dismantling of the widely used Flobot spy system to hack mobile phones in order to steal sensitive information, passwords or bank account numbers.
"Flobot caused major incidents in Spain and Finland and was one of the most common malware," Europol said in a statement.
The agency did not specify how it disabled the program, in order to avoid disclosing information about the techniques used, but told AFP: "The operation did not involve dismantling any infrastructure, but was carried out by another means."
Flobot was deployed in 2020 thanks to its ability to access the list of contacts in the hacked phone and use numbers to attack new devices.
The software hacks into Android phones via text message with a link that leads the user to download an app used by hackers to steal personal and financial information.
At the end of 2020, Flobot damaged a large number of devices around the world, particularly in Finland and Spain.
Dutch police, which disrupted Flobot's infrastructure after an international investigation by 11 countries, including the United States, Australia and several European countries, said in May that the program was "malicious and sophisticated and capable of causing many problems."
"We have separated 10,000 victims from the Flobot network and intercepted more than 6.5 million malicious text messages," she said, adding that police were still trying to identify those responsible for the fraud.