• Law enforcement worldwide teamed up recently to fight cybercrime. 
• "Operation Endgame" led to four arrests and the dismantling of 100 malicious servers globally.
• Cybersecurity experts called the sting an important step, but said its just a start. 

In what's been billed as a first-of-its-kind operation, law enforcement agencies around the world recently banded together to take down major cyber criminal infrastructure that officials said targeted multitudes of victims and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages globally.

Over a couple of days in late May, "Operation Endgame" led to the arrests of four people in Ukraine and Armenia, the dismantling of more than 100 malicious computer servers worldwide, and the seizure of over 2,000 domains, according law enforcement in the US and Europe.

One of the main suspects raked in at least $70 million in cryptocurrency by "renting out criminal infrastructure sites to deploy ransomware" according to Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union that conducted the operation along with other agencies, including the FBI.

Cybersecurity experts told Business Insider that the takedown is a pivotal step forward in the ongoing war against cybercrime. However, they said, the fight can't end here, as cybercrime is one of the biggest threats facing humanity.

"It's not like this is going to solve the problem, but it's a great step in addressing it," said Adam Wandt, a cybercrime investigations expert and a public policy professor at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

'Largest ever operation against botnets'

Europol called the sting the "largest ever operation against botnets, which play a major role in the deployment of ransomware."

"This worldwide operation, involving law enforcement authorities from 13 countries, led to a significant disruption of criminal activities," Europol spokesperson Ina Mihaylova told Business Insider, noting the effort was also supported by the private industry.

Mihaylova called the scale of the operation "unprecedented in the cyber domain."

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement that the agency "used joint and sequenced actions to run a first-of-its-kind international operation and debilitate the criminal infrastructure of multiple malware services."

As part of the operation, the law enforcement agencies shut down at least four malware groups or "droppers" known as "IcedID," "Smokeloader," "Pikabot," and "Bumblebee."

According to the FBI, these droppers, designed to install malware onto computer systems, "infected millions of computers and claimed countless victims around the world and throughout the United States, including a hospital network, which not only cost millions of dollars but alarmingly put people's lives at risk due to the compromised critical care online system."

"This is taking down computer servers, which are affecting all of us," said Wandt, who explained that the hackers behind the botnets are "going for money, and they don't care who they go for or how they get it."

"This could be my grandmother sitting at home, this could be a large bank. It doesn't matter," he said.

Wandt and other experts said the takedown of 100 malicious servers is a small number when compared to the vast number of servers that run botnets around the globe but that it's nonetheless important.

"That doesn't mean that it was a small number in the amount of fraud that it was committing," said Wandt.

Ransomware 'wreaking havoc around the world'

Tracy Beth Mitrano, a cybersecurity policy expert and a visiting professor of information science at Cornell University, called "Operation Endgame" a "significant step," but said "it's not significant in terms of the total scope of the problem."

"Ransomware has just been wreaking havoc around the world," Mitrano said. "It's been ripping through the United States."

Mitrano emphasized the importance of the US working with other countries around the world to combat cybercrime and called for international law, treaties, and agreements "to establish rules of the road in cyberspace."

"The war will not be won until there are international laws and standards that bring countries together," said Mitrano.

Mitrano said "Operation Endgame," is a "very important first step, but we have to keep going."

"Cyber insecurity is one of the biggest threats we face on the globe today," she said.

Thomas Holt, a cybersecurity expert and professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, said the coordinated effort of countries around the globe working to fight cybercrime as was done in "Operation Endgame" is "absolutely necessary."

"Cybercrime is such a distributed problem," he said, noting that cybercriminals can target "anyone anywhere with relative ease, and the likelihood of detection is really, really low."

So any attempt at cracking down on cybercrime is a positive, Holt said.

"It's a net gain in terms of complicating networks or forcing short-term behavioral change on the market and the actors," said Holt. "It may not create these long-term sustained drop-offs, but it at least provides a short-term benefit."

Holt said he does not believe cybercrime will ever be stopped, "But what I think we can do is produce complexities for the offender, making it harder for them to actually engage in an offense like running a botnet."

The "biggest problem" in the malware world, according to Holt, is that there is always a different iteration of malware on the horizon.

"Over the last decade, it has been ransomware primarily, but there's going to be an eventual pivot away from ransomware to something else," he said. "We don't know exactly what that something else is yet."

And artificial intelligence "will certainly simplify the process" for cyberattackers, said Holt.

Cybercriminals "don't have the same degree of difficulty or barriers to entry that we had in the 80s, the 90s, and even the early 2000s," Holt said.

"Now it's flattened to a point where as long as you have money, you can buy personal data, you buy credit card numbers, rent out denial of service attacks on demand or botnets," he said. "So you don't even need to know what you're doing. You just need to have a cursory understanding and dollars in your pocket."

Last month, Wray, the FBI director, pledged the agency's ongoing commitment to combatting cybercrime.

"The fight against borderless cybercrime does not end here, and the FBI is committed to tackling this ever-evolving threat," he said.

• Market research firm YouGov recently surveyed US travelers about acceptable behaviors on a flight.
• I was surprised by the amount of people who said ignoring safety presentations was acceptable. 
• I was also surprised by the number of people who take their shoes off and unbuckle their seatbelt.

Market research firm YouGov recently surveyed US travelers about what they consider appropriate behavior on a plane.

Some results were as expected: more than 80% disapproved of kids playing in the aisle, leaving their seats during turbulence, and getting drunk during a flight.

Since those behaviors range from irritating to downright dangerous, I'm heartened that they are met with overwhelming condemnation, even in a society as fractured as ours.

However, I found some of the YouGov survey's findings surprising and, in some instances, highly disconcerting.

Pay attention to safety demonstrations

20% of respondents said it's acceptable to ignore the safety demonstration at the beginning of flights.

It's a position that's more likely to be taken by frequent fliers (32%) versus just 16% of those who never fly.

I agree that the pre-flight safety demonstration can feel mundane and superfluous, but it still serves as a crucial overview of the aircraft's emergency exits and safety devices.

That's all information that could come in handy during a potentially chaotic and disorientating emergency evacuation.

Even the seemingly useless seatbelt demo can be useful. After all, passengers have been known to forget how to unbuckle their belts during emergency situations.

This just creates more work for flight attendants, whose primary job is to work as a team to get passengers off the plane quickly and safely in an emergency.

While I'm buoyed by the fact that 66% disapproved of the behavior, I remain concerned that at least 1/5 of the plane likely has no idea how to react in a life-threatening situation.

Keep your seatbelt on

Speaking of unbuckling seat belts, 47% of respondents said it is acceptable to do so when the seatbelt light is switched off.

I think there's a fundamental disconnect between what switching off the seatbelt light means to the flying public and what it actually means.

Switching off the light means passengers may now safely get up to use the lavatory or retrieve something from the overhead compartment. However, passengers should remain bucked once they return to their seats.

Flight crews sometimes will even make announcements instructing passengers to stay buckled when seated.

Given the recent examples of severe turbulence that have resulted in injuries and even a fatality, it's probably wise to heed those warnings.

Keep your shoes on

According to the survey, 30% of American adults said taking your shoes off on a plane is acceptable.

Soaring through the skies in a winged pressurized metal vessel is truly a marvel of modern engineering. I think I speak for most fliers when I say I don't want to enjoy this marvel while wafting the scent of someone's feet.

Beyond the assault on our olfactory senses, walking around the cabin of an airliner in your socks just isn't terribly sanitary.

Even though aircraft are vacuumed in fairly frequent intervals, their carpets see a lot of passengers between more thorough cleanings.

All kinds of detritus find their way onto these carpets, from food and drink to mud and dirt. In the most extreme cases, there may even be biohazards—soaked in blood, like on board an Air France flight to Toronto last July, or liquid feces, like Delta's diarrhea flight last September.

Even though airlines usually remove the biohazard-contaminated carpets, as was the case after the Delta flight, they serve as stomach-turning reminders to keep your shoes on.

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Happy first day of summer! With the changing of the seasons, it's worth reassessing your wardrobe. These are the summer accessories you should ditch. (No more cargo shorts!)

In today's big story, we're looking at why the rise of "quiet vacationing" shows the depressing state of America's work culture.

What's on deck:

• Markets: Private equity's push into investing in law firms is a disaster, according to one attorney.
• Tech: It seems like not even the streamers can save pay TV.
• Business: Top MBA grads are vying for a spot in this private-equity firm's CEO-In-Training program.

But first, I might be a bit slow to respond.

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The big story

Down-low vacation

Are you working today, or are you "working" today?

If you're unfamiliar with the distinction, let me introduce you to a new workplace phrase: quiet vacationing.

The idea is to take some time off without officially informing your employer. The result is a quasi-vacation where you might shoot off emails and respond to Slack messages between drinks at the swim-up bar.

Naturally, it's a concept championed by those loveable workaholics, millennials.

Depending on your position on the workplace spectrum, that might sound like an ideal setup or the sign of a lazy worker.

But Business Insider's Emily Stewart argues workers feeling too stressed to fully take time off is a sad example of America's work culture.

It's not an unfounded fear, either. One piece of research found men at a consulting firm were rewarded for giving the impression they were workaholics despite actually pulling back on work.

Either way, it's a trend that's unlikely to die down in the near term.

As I previously wrote, the rise of WFH Fridays is the perfect complement to quiet vacations. And summer presents plenty of opportunities for on-the-sly trips.

Look no further than July 5, the Friday after Independence Day, which is sure to have plenty of people "working."

Personally, I blame the hesitancy to fully unplug on one man: Wally Pipp.

Pipp was the New York Yankees' first baseman, twice leading the American League in home runs and helping the Yankees win a World Series in 1923.

But, as legend goes, on June 2, 1925, Pipp asked out of the lineup due to a headache. His replacement was Lou Gehrig, who went on to play in more than 2,100 consecutive games en route to a legendary career.

Now, Pipp's name is synonymous with the risk of taking your foot off the gas. Long before "FOMO" there was fear of getting "Wally Pipped." It also makes for great fodder for LinkedIn influencers who tout the importance of #hustleharder.

And with the threat of layoffs ongoing, it's no wonder people might not want to be seen taking it easy.

The irony is that quiet vacationing could arguably put you in a worse position for your job these days. As companies continue their efficiency push, taking longer to do your work because you're secretly out of town might be a bigger sin than just taking time off.

Better to put in 100% effort 80% of the time than 80% effort 100% of the time, one could argue.

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3 things in markets

1. How dreams of upending the legal industry with private equity became a nightmare. Arizona permitting non-lawyers to invest in law firms created what trial lawyer Steve German initially saw as a "revolutionary" opportunity "to do good." But his partnership with Miami investment firm 777 Partners quickly soured, and now German is a vocal critic of Arizona's hands-off approach.
2. The cost of delaying rates could be fatal for the economy. Famed economist Mohamed El-Erian warned the Federal Reserve's higher-for-longer approach to interest rates is creating and deepening vulnerabilities in the economy. As it stands, he sees the recession risk at 35%.
3. Russia's largest private bank is expanding to China. Alfa Bank PJSC is applying to build new offices in Beijing and Shanghai after being hit by US sanctions. The move is a nod to Russia and China's increasingly intertwined, "no-limits" partnership.

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3 things in tech

1. Pay TV is falling fast. Pay-TV subscriptions have been declining for years, but the start of the year ushered in the worst quarter in pay-TV's history. Even digital pay-TV subscriptions like YouTube TV, which were once promising, are starting to falter.
2. Some Amazon employees were fuming over a private Foo Fighters concert for senior leaders. Internal Slack messages viewed by BI show Amazon employees slamming the company for the concert, which was just for director- and vice president-level employees. "Meanwhile, there's no budget for a monthly happy hour on our team," one employee wrote.
3. Businesses' embrace of generative AI is about to get messy. A vast majority of US companies are adopting generative AI tools — and at an unusually fast pace, according to a survey from Bain & Company. Now, they actually have to make money from these big investments.

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3 things in business

1. How to grow a CEO. One private-equity firm has a training program that promises to pipeline MBA grads into CEO roles at their portfolio companies. Described by one alum as "turbocharged entrepreneurship," it's harder to get into than Harvard.
2. For TV companies, the cost of sports might be Hollywood. Media companies are shelling out billions to vie for sports broadcasting rights, which have never been more important for viewership. They've also never been more expensive. That high price tag could spell disaster for Hollywood as media execs pull funding from entertainment budgets to cover costs.
3. Dell workers are rejecting RTO. Almost half of the company's full-time US workforce have rejected its return-to-office push, data seen by BI shows — and those workers are ineligible for promotion if they stay remote. BI spoke with 11 Dell employees on why they made that choice.

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In other news

• The egg-freezing industry's shady sales pitch.
• Nvidia is throwing its weight around — and even Amazon is bowing down.
• Digital advertisers want "premium content" — but are in a battle over how to define it.
• Apple exec explains why you wouldn't want to run Apple Intelligence on your older iPhone.
• There's a pipeline of former Tesla staffers to Elon Musk's shiny new startup xAI.
• Fewer Microsoft employees think they're getting a 'good deal,' internal survey shows.
• The Caitlin Clark culture war sums up our garbage treatment of female athletes.
• The curious case of Reddit's surging traffic.
• Here are the highest-paid CEOs in the US, some of whom have 9-figure compensation packages.

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What's happening today

• The summer solstice, the longest day of the year and the official start of summer, is today. Enjoy the extra sunlight!
• SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission launches.

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The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London. Annie Smith, associate producer, in London. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York.

• The Philippines released video showing Chinese coast guard during a skirmish in the South China Sea.
• It called Monday's incident, in which the Chinese brandished weapons, "a brazen act of aggression."
• It's the latest in a series of Chinese provocations in the South China Sea.

The Philippine army has shared video that it says shows China Coast Guard personnel wielding an ax and other weapons at them during a tense encounter in the South China Sea on Monday.

Chinese coast guard also flung rocks, slashed boats with "bladed and pointed weapons," and blared sirens and strobe lights during the encounter, which damaged the boats, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said.

The footage, shared to X on Wednesday, shows several boats crowded together with people on either side yelling at each other.

One figure — identified by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as a member of the China Coast Guard — can be seen brandishing an ax.

It also shared aerial footage of what it said was a Filipino boat "crammed in the middle" of two Chinese vessels.

Business Insider was not able to independently verify the footage.

The posts called the situation "a brutal assault" on China's part.

General Romeo Brawner, the Philippines' top military commander, criticized China for what he described as "reckless and aggressive" behavior. He accused the Chinese vessels of ramming Philippine boats, and said one Filipino soldier lost a thumb when his vessel was hit.

But China's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian described the actions as "professional, restrained, justified and lawful."

The Filipino armed forces said its troops had been engaged in a humanitarian resupply mission at the Ayungin Shoal, a contested atoll in the South China Sea some 120 miles from the Filipino Palawan Island.

China claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea — including the resource-rich waters in which Monday's skirmish took place — despite a 2016 ruling by the Hague not recognizing those claims.

The clash took place a few days after China enacted a new law allowing its Coast Guard to seize foreign ships suspected of trespassing, CNN reported.

Beijing takes particular exception to the object of the Filipino mission, which was to resupply the BRP Sierra Madre, a ship that the Philippines deliberately grounded in 1999 in order to cement its claims over the waters.

The Philippines and its allies condemned Monday's incident, which is the latest in a series of Chinese provocations in the South China Sea.

The Philippines' Fisheries Bureau in February accused China of trying to destroy Scarborough Shoal, a fish-rich atoll off the Manila coast, by pumping cyanide into the waters.

In April, Chinese Coast Guard ships battered a Filipino vessel, this time off Manila's coast, with water cannon, in a move that Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela called "harassment."

The incidents have taken place against the backdrop of strengthening US-Filipino relations, which has seen an uptick in military cooperation between Manila and Washington in recent months.