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# Operation Source / Beebone botnet disruption

April 2015, Malware and botnets
Led by [Politie (Netherlands National Police)](https://takedownindex.org/organizations/politie-netherlands-national-police)

Extended pass entry, last reviewed August 21, 2026

What was taken down?

Malicious domains were seized and sinkholed, allowing victim IP data to be supplied to ISPs and CERTs for remediation.

[See what happened](#what-happened)

What happened to the people?

No individual outcomes are recorded against this entry.
Group accounted for: Not applicable

[See people and accountability](#people)

Did it stay down?

Not established in the public record. No later activity is recorded against this entry.

[See what happened afterward](#afterward)

## What happened

A Dutch-led action supported by Europol EC3/J-CAT, the FBI, and security-industry partners seized and sinkholed domains used by the polymorphic Beebone downloader botnet.

**Date:** April 2015

**Target:** Beebone, botnet

**Activity:** Malware and botnets

**Operational lead:** Dutch National Police

**Partners**

EC3, FBI[[1]](#source-1)

- [European Cybercrime Centre](https://takedownindex.org/organizations/european-cybercrime-centre), coordinator
- [Federal Bureau of Investigation](https://takedownindex.org/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation), supporting

**Jurisdiction:** Not established

**Outcome:** Malicious domains were seized and sinkholed, allowing victim IP data to be supplied to ISPs and CERTs for remediation.

**Status:** Completed

**Legal mechanism:** Dutch judicial/search-and-seizure authority; coordinated with US process for domains hosted there.

**Group accounted for:** Not applicable

## People and accountability

No individual is named against this entry in the cited record. That is a gap in what has been published rather than a finding that nobody was involved.

Group accounted for: Not applicable

The cited record does not say how large the group was or whether everyone involved has been identified.

[See the organizations and roles behind this action](https://takedownindex.org/takedowns/operation-source-beebone-botnet-disruption/organizations)

## What happened afterward

Not established in the public record. No later activity is recorded against this entry.

## Sources

Numbered markers throughout this entry link to the source that supports the claim beside them.

### Official sources

1.
[Operation Source: Beebone botnet disruption](https://takedownindex.org/sources/europol-operation-source-beebone-botnet-disruption)

Europol, April 8, 2015, Source grade P2

Establishes the Dutch-led, Europol-supported Beebone domain seizure and sinkholing operation.

No address recorded for this source. Publisher, title, and date are given so it can be retrieved from the publisher.

Coverage note. Added from deep-research aggregation pass. Not independently re-verified source-by-source to the same standard as the original 38-incident core; source\_quality capped at S2/P2 pending a dedicated verification pass.

Research context

## How this entry was checked

This entry came from a broader aggregation pass and has not been independently verified source by source. Its sources are graded no higher than P2 or S2, and most carry no address yet. Treat the figures as a research lead rather than a settled record.

Source review: Extended pass, not yet verified

Sources cited: 1

Research cutoff: August 20, 2026

Last reviewed August 21, 2026

See also

[About the Internet Takedown Index](https://takedownindex.org/about)

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