European police, FBI bust international cybercrime gang

BERLIN — German police stated Monday that they’ve disrupted a world cybercrime gang which has been blackmailing massive firms and establishments for years, raking in hundreds of thousands of euros.

Working with legislation enforcement companions together with Europol, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and authorities in Ukraine, police in Duesseldorf stated they have been in a position to determine 11 people linked to a gaggle that has operated in numerous guises since at the very least 2010.

Amongst its most distinguished victims was Duesseldorf College Hospital, whose computer systems have been contaminated with a sort of ransomware referred to as DoppelPaymer in 2020. A lady who wanted pressing therapy died after she needed to be taken to a different metropolis for therapy.

Dirk Kunze, who heads the cybercrime division with North Rhine-Westphalia state police, stated at the very least 601 victims have been recognized worldwide, together with 37 in Germany. Europol stated victims in the US paid out at the very least 40 million euros ($42.5 million) to the gang between Might 2019 and March 2021.

The group specialised in “large sport looking,” stated Kunze, and ran an expert recruitment operation, luring new members with the promise of paid trip and asking candidates to submit references for previous cybercrimes.

He stated police performed simultaneous raids in Germany and Ukraine on Feb. 28, seizing proof and detaining a number of suspects. Three additional suspects — two of them Russian residents — couldn’t be apprehended as they have been past the attain of European legislation enforcement, Kunze stated.