Europol
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ProtonMail under fire after giving authorities an activist's IP address
As detailed in our transparency report, our published threat model, and also our privacy policy, under Swiss law, Proton can be forced to collect information on accounts belonging to users under Swiss criminal investigation. This is obviously not done by default, but only if Proton gets a legal order for a specific account.
Europol takes down hackers who allegedly stole over $100 million in crypto from celebs
Eight men have been arrested in the UK for their role in a spate of hacks on US celebs, per Europol, after the criminals broke into the victims’ phones to steal over $100 million in cryptocurrencies. SIM-swapping involves hackers taking control of a person’s phone number by deactivating their SIM and porting the number over to their own SIM card. This is typically done with the help of an insider at the targeted phone service or through social engineering ploys, such as phishing, according to law enforcement.
International law enforcement disrupts the notorious Emotet botnet
International law enforcement has disrupted and taken control of Emotet, one of the world's larger and more dangerous botnets.
Europol confirms world's largest dark web marketplace has been taken offline
Law enforcement agencies from multiple countries have teamed up to take down what Europol is calling the “world's largest” illegal marketplace on the dark web. DarkMarket had almost 500,000 users when it was taken offline. According to Europol’s announcement, vendors mainly used the marketplace to sell drugs, counterfeit money and credit card details, malware and anonymous SIM cards.
FBI, Europol take down a VPN service aimed at criminals
The FBI and Europol have shut down a VPN service pitched toward criminals, and it could make honest VPN operators nervous.
International effort busts $100 million malware crime network
The US, five other countries and Europol have dismantled an elaborate cybercrime ring that relied on one piece of malware to pull off heists. Officials have charged 10 people across five countries with using GozNym malware to grab banking login credentials in a bid to steal about $100 million from over 41,000 target computers, most of them linked to US businesses and their associated banks. It's not certain how much money the team obtained.
Police take down the world's largest DDoS-for-hire service
The internet might be slightly safer against distributed denial of service attacks in the near future... slightly. Police in twelve countries have taken down WebStresser, believed to be the world's largest service for paid DDoS attacks. The joint campaign (Operation Power Off) seized WebStresser's infrastructure in the US, UK and the Netherlands, and busted site administrators ranging as far as Australia and Hong Kong.
Suspect arrested for cyber bank heists that amassed $1.2 billion
Europol announced today that the suspected leader of an international bank heist scheme has been arrested. The arrest was a result of an investigation that involved a number of cooperating law enforcement groups including the Spanish National Police, Europol, the FBI and the Romanian, Belarusian and Taiwanese authorities. The person was arrested in Alicante, Spain.
UK police crack down on people paying for DDoS attacks
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are on the rise, affecting individuals, private businesses and government-funded institutions alike. As part of a large warning to cybercriminals, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has arrested 12 individuals for using a DDoS-for-hire service called Netspoof. "Operation Vulcanialia" targeted 60 citizens in total, and led to 30 cease and desist notices, and the seizure of equipment from 11 suspects. The NCA says it had two focuses: arresting repeat offenders and educating first-time users about the consequences of cybercrime.
Cybercrime network 'Avalanche' shut down in global sting
A mammoth cybercrime network known as Avalanche has been shut down, following a four-year investigation by German police and a coordinated strike by Europol, the FBI and agencies in many other countries. With a name like a Bond movie title, Avalanche was a sprawling cloud-based network that cybercriminals could rent, using it to distribute malware, ransomware, run phishing campaigns and launder extorted or stolen money.
FBI Dark Web hacks were a part of a global child porn bust
That FBI hacking initiative that caught 1,500 pedophiles on the Dark Web? It was just the tip of the iceberg. Motherboard has discovered that the operation was just one part of Operation Pacifier, a global campaign to fight child porn hidden through anonymity networks like Tor. The effort had the FBI hacking systems as far afield as Chile, Denmark and Greece -- there are also hints of possible operations in Colombia and Turkey. The US agency wasn't working alone, either, as it teamed up with Europol to collect information and pass it along to local law enforcement.
Darkode cybercrime forum seized as police arrest 28 members
In a coordinated takedown, law enforcement agents around the world have teamed up to shut down the well-known cybercrime forum Darkode, pursuing 70 of its members and associates resulting in 28 arrests so far. In the US, the Department of Justice and the FBI have announced criminal charges against 12 individuals including the site's alleged admin, Johan Anders Gudmunds, aka Mafi aka Crim aka Synthet!c, and the seizure of the site's servers. Dubbed Operation Shrouded Horizon, the effort by police in 20 countries took on a forum known as a place for cyber criminals to swap tips and tools (botnets, spamming services, you name it) of the trade. Brian Krebs has been reporting on Darkode's community for quite some time, including a profile published after its administrators tricked him into publishing details on a fake Java exploit.
Europol pledges to take down ISIL's social media accounts within two hours
Europol has announced that it's setting up a taskforce just to deal with Islamic State's social media accounts. In an interview with The Guardian, director Rob Wainwright pledged that officers would be trying to take down each account within two hours of being discovered. ISIL is believed to control upwards of 50,000 Twitter accounts, and uses that site, as well as Facebook and YouTube, to recruit new followers. In addition, the group uses social media to spread propaganda and issue death threats -- such as the one against Twitter's leadership, including co-founder Jack Dorsey.
Police kill money-stealing botnet that infected millions of PCs
Europol and police forces across Europe have shut down Ramnit, a botnet that infected up to three million computers world-wide. The virus, generally installed by email phishing attacks or rogue sites (please stop clicking on attachments, whoever your are) was mostly used by criminal hackers to steal banking info. If you were so foolish to click, the program gives hackers remote access to your Windows PC, letting them steal banking credentials, personal details and other info. The countries hit hardest were the US, India and Bangladesh.
Silk Road 2.0 was just the first: police seize more Tor-shielded darknet sites
Yesterday's takeover of Silk Road 2.0 was just the tip of the iceberg apparently, as the FBI and European law enforcement organizations have announced a "global action" against similar darknet marketplaces. "Operation Onymous" resulted in 17 arrests total, the removal of 410 hidden services that allegedly offered illegal drugs and weapons for sale, as well as the seizure of more than $1 million Bitcoins in, $250,000 in cash and drugs. Troels Oerting of the European Cybercrime Center told Wired that his staff hadn't had time to assemble a full list of takedowns, but it includes Cloud 9, Hydra, Pandora, Cannabis Road and more. The Telegraph reports six Britons accused of helping run Silk Road 2.0 are among those arrested, while the BBC has word of two arrested in Ireland. Like both iterations of Silk Road, the sites were using Tor to anonymize access, but were still exposed. Details of how the service was pierced have not been revealed (we have an idea), but The Wall Street Journal quotes Eurojust spokesman Ulf Bergstrom saying "You're not anonymous anymore when you're using Tor."
