Kaspersky joins INTERPOL-led Operation Serengeti III, netting nearly 1,500 arrests


The third edition of Operation Serengeti took place from June 29 to August 31, 2026. In the law enforcement action, INTERPOL brought together its private partners, including Kaspersky, and investigators from 20 African countries* and the United States.

Serengeti III focused on neutralizing such threats as cyber-enabled fraud, ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), online scams and digital extortion and identified nearly 66,000 victims targeted by detected cybercriminal networks. The financial losses caused by this criminal activity were estimated by financial investigators at US$385 million.

To help law enforcement authorities identify targets, map criminal networks and support investigative activities, in the run-up to the operation, Kaspersky Threat Research expertise center provided critical threat intelligence and technical analysis of the threats investigated. Kaspersky experts provided data on network infrastructure used in botnet and DDoS attacks as well as information on phishing and malicious URLs targeting African users.

Read more…
Source:  Kaspersky


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Kaspersky joins INTERPOL-led Operation Serengeti III, netting nearly 1,500 arrests

    October 26, 2026

    The third edition of Operation Serengeti took place from June 29 to August 31, 2026. In the law enforcement action, INTERPOL brought together its private partners, including Kaspersky, and investigators from 20 African countries* and the United States. Serengeti III focused on neutralizing such threats as cyber-enabled fraud, ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), online scams and ...

  • Mirage Kitten targeting aviation and FinTech sectors across the Middle East and Africa with a new malware set

    September 1, 2026

    While monitoring Mirage Kitten activity, Kaspersky researchers uncovered a previously undocumented malware family that we dubbed NodeRabbit. The researchers identified the first sample on a system in Afghanistan. Further threat hunting revealed two additional, more advanced, variants: one on a system in Egypt and another on a system in Ethiopia. NodeRabbit is a cross-platform remote access ...

  • INTERPOL report finds AI linked to more than half of cybercrime in Africa

    August 3, 2026

    Artificial intelligence is enabling 55 per cent of reported cybercrimes across Africa making attacks faster, more scalable, and increasingly difficult for victims and platforms to detect, according to INTERPOL’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026. With more than 1.1 billion mobile subscribers recorded in 2025, Africa’s digital transformation is expanding rapidly. However, cybercrime legislation is fragmented and AI readiness ...

  • Mirage Kitten targets Middle East and Africa region with new malware

    July 28, 2026

    Mirage Kitten – also known as UNC1549, Smoke Sandstorm, and Nimbus Manticore – is an advanced persistent threat (APT) group focused on cyber-espionage operations against aerospace, aviation, defense, and telecommunications sectors across the Middle East and Africa, using highly targeted spear-phishing campaigns, fake recruitment portals, and custom multi-stage malware to gain persistent access and exfiltrate sensitive data. During ...

  • Hack-for-hire group caught targeting Android devices and iCloud backups

    April 8, 2026

    Security researchers say they have identified a hack-for-hire group targeting journalists, activists, and government officials across the Middle East and North Africa. The hackers used phishing attacks to access targets’ iCloud backups and messaging accounts on Signal, and deployed Android spyware capable of taking over the targets’ devices. This hacking campaign highlights a growing trend of ...

  • Police arrest suspect over Microsoft 365 cyber attack

    December 19, 2025

    The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) has apprehended a suspected cyber fraudster linked to coordinated attacks on Microsoft 365 email platforms used by corporate organisations. The arrest followed an intelligence-led investigation triggered by credible information from Microsoft Corporation in the United States, conveyed through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The intelligence exposed the ...