On 30 September 2026, law enforcement took control of KillSec’s leak site, securing at least 110 terabytes of data against further unauthorised access. The cybercrime group used the site to threaten organisations with the publication of stolen files unless they paid a ransom.
The action was part of Operation KillSwitch, an international investigation led by German authorities into around 1 000 suspected attacks worldwide. Investigators identified a 16-year-old as the group’s suspected main operator. Three suspects were provisionally arrested and eight properties searched in Greece, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Authorities also targeted the group’s criminal proceeds.
KillSec stole sensitive data by exploiting vulnerabilities and poorly secured access points to organisations’ systems. Around 500 of the suspected attacks have so far been identified as successful. This figure may change as investigators examine the evidence seized during the operation.
Read more…
Source: EUROPOL News
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- FBI Document Says the Feds Can Get Your WhatsApp Data – in Real Time
November 29, 2021
As Apple and WhatsApp have built themselves into multibillion-dollar behemoths, they’ve done it while preaching the importance of privacy, especially when it comes to secure messaging. But in a previously unreported FBI document obtained by Rolling Stone, the bureau claims that it’s particularly easy to harvest data from Facebook’s WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage services, as long ...
- Interpol: More than 1,000 arrests and USD 27 million intercepted in massive financial crime crackdown
November 26, 2021
LYON, France – An operation coordinated by INTERPOL codenamed HAECHI-II saw police arrest more than 1,000 individuals and intercept a total of nearly USD 27 million of illicit funds, underlining the global threat of cyber-enabled financial crime. Taking place over four months from June to September 2021, Operation HAECHI-II brought together specialized police units from 20 ...
- Evil Corp: ‘My hunt for the world’s most wanted hackers’
November 17, 2021
Many of the people on the FBI’s cyber most wanted list are Russian. While some allegedly work for the government earning a normal salary, others are accused of making a fortune from ransomware attacks and online theft. If they left Russia they’d be arrested – but at home they appear to be given free rein. “We’re ...
- The US government just launched a big push to fill cybersecurity jobs, with salaries to match
November 16, 2021
The US Department of Homeland Security, a key cybersecurity agency, has just announced a new system that will help it recruit, develop and retrain cybersecurity pros in the federal government. The DHS’s new recruitment system, dubbed the Cybersecurity Talent Management System (CTMS), launches amid a tight labor market for cybersecurity professionals who are in extremely high ...
- Hackers compromise FBI email system, send thousands of messages
November 13, 2021
Hackers compromised a Federal Bureau of Investigation email system on Saturday and sent tens of thousands of messages warning of a possible cyberattack, according to the agency and security specialists. Fake emails appeared to come from a legitimate FBI email address ending in @ic.fbi.gov, the FBI said in a statement. Although the hardware impacted by the incident ...
- REvil ransomware affiliates arrested in Romania and Kuwait
November 8, 2021
Romanian law enforcement authorities have arrested two suspects believed to be Sodinokibi/REvil ransomware affiliates on November 4, both of them allegedly responsible for infecting thousands of victims. DIICOT (the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism) and judicial police officers carried out four home searches in Constanța, seizing mobile devices (laptops, mobile phones) and storage ...
