12 people have now been targeted by an international law enforcement operation. They were reportedly targeted for their involvement in over 1,800 ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure as well as large organizations all around the world.
12 Suspects from Ukraine and Switzerland
As per a statement from Europol, it was described that 12 suspects over in Ukraine and Switzerland were "high value targets" that are reportedly responsible for "wreaking havoc all across the world." This is through distributing LockerGoga, Dharma, MegaCortex, and some other ransomware attacks directly against organizations in 71 countries.
According to the story by ZDNet, as of the moment, it is currently unclear if the individuals have actually been arrested or charged, a certain Europol spokesperson stated that the whole "judicial process" is currently ongoing. The suspects are currently believed to have a number of different roles when it comes to aggressive criminal organizations.
Criminal Organization Techniques
These criminal organizations were reportedly responsible for encrypting networks with ransomware then demanding that victims pay them in order to get the decryption key. A number of the suspects are currently thought to be involved in compromising the IT networks of targets. Researchers were recently able to find a code mistake which led to BlackMatter Ransomware losing potential millions in payment.
This is while others are now suspected of being in charge of laundering certain Bitcoin payments that are made by victims. Europol notes that those that are responsible for breaking directly into networks did so through using certain techniques which include brute force attacks, SQL injections, and even sending phishing emails along with malicious attachments in order to seal the victim's usernames and passwords.
Ransomware as Biggest Cybersecurity Threat
Once they are inside the networks, it was said that the attackers would remain undetected and also gained some additional access through using tools which include Cobalt Strike, TrickBot malware, and even PowerShell Empire. This is in order to compromise as many systems as possible well before triggering certain ransomware attacks.
It was stated that as a result of the whole operation, over $52,000 in cash was actually seized along with five different luxury cars. As of the moment, there are a number of computers that have all been seized and are currently under examination in order to secure evidence as well as identify some new leads. Researchers are now predicting an increase in ransomware attacks on eCommerce as the holidays are getting closer and closer.
In total, over 50 investigators coming from agencies all around the world were involved in the operation. This would include six different Europol specialists. This was reportedly coordinated by Europol's own European Cybercrime Centre or EC3. It was noted that a recent European Union Agency for Cybersecurity report actually warned that ransomware is now the biggest cybersecurity issue facing the world as of the moment.
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Written by Urian B.
