According toEuropol , the suspects are believed to have dribble out attacks involve more than 1,800 dupe in 71 countries . The group is know for targeting large businesses and is suspected to have been behind an attack onNorsk Hydro — a global aluminum manufacturing business based in Norway — in 2019 , which forced it to stop output across its factory in two continents . The attack paralyze Norsk Hydro for almost a week and be the company more than $ 50 million .
Europol seized more than $ 52,000 in cash from the suspect as well as five luxury vehicles . The authority is currently performing a forensic psychoanalysis on the group ’s electronic machine to “ secure grounds and identify new investigative leads . ”
The international sting was organize by Europol and Eurojust , the European Union ’s agency for deplorable justice cooperation , and included agency from eight unlike state , include the U.S. and the UK . It took place in Ukraine and Switzerland on Oct.26 , Europol said in anews announcement .
Photo: Rob Engelaar / ANP / AFP (Getty Images)
It ’s not clear whether the suspects in question have been arrest or charge , with Europol only saying they were “ targeted . ”
“ Most of these suspects are considered high - value targets because they are being inquire in multiple high - visibility cases in dissimilar jurisdictions , ” the agency said .
Each of the cybercriminals had different roles in the criminal organizations . Some were in charge of penetrate the victims ’ IT electronic connection and did so using various substance , admit brutal force attacks , SQL shot , steal credentials , and phishing e-mail with malicious fastening .
Others get to work once their brother had accessed victims ’ IT networks . After the fact , they would deploy malware , such as Trickbot , and other putz to help oneself them stay under the microwave radar and gather further access , Europol explained .
“ The criminals would then consist undetected in the compromised systems , sometimes for calendar month , probing for more weaknesses in the IT networks before moving on to monetising the transmission by deploying a ransomware , ” Europol said , contribute : “ The issue of the ransomware attacks were devastating as the criminals had had the metre to explore the IT net undetected . ”
The story then takes a play and becomes one the majority of us are unfortunately familiar with : The attackers encrypted the dupe ’ file and then sent a ransom money eminence involve a payment in bitcoin in exchange for the decoding describe . If the ransom was bear , some suspects were reportedly in charge of laundering the investment firm through conflate services and cash in out .
Europol did not go into point about the identity of the group ’s victims or why they may have been point . Back across the pond , ransomware attacks have also beenon the rise , with cybercriminalslaunching attacksagainst major IT corporations and crippling infrastructure .
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