On Wednesday, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York granted Google a temporary court order to disrupt the distribution and infrastructure of the “CryptBot” info stealing malware. The CryptBot info stealer, which is estimated to have infected approximately 670,000 computers in the past year, has been used to infect Google Chrome users and steal their data, including login credentials, credit card information, cryptocurrency wallet data, and other personal or financial data that can be used for fraudulent intents. The malware is traditionally delivered via fake websites that offer “cracked” versions of various software and video games that, in reality, are maliciously modified versions of popular software packages such as Google Earth Pro or Google Chrome. Google originally filed a lawsuit claiming computer fraud and abuse and trademark infringement, targeting CryptBot’s infrastructure and distribution network whose major distributors are believed to be based in Pakistan and operate a worldwide criminal enterprise. The court order will enable Google to take down domains associated with CryptBot distribution that are both active and ones registered after the court order was issued, effectively limiting the malware network’s growth and decreasing the influx of new infections. Google’s court order comes weeks after a similar court order was granted to Microsoft, in coordination with Fortra and the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Health-ISAC), to dismantle servers hosting illegal, legacy copies of Cobalt Strike, signaling an uprise in legal actions that allow companies to take offensive measures against cyber threat actors.