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:
- Suspected REvil Gang Insider Identified
October 28, 2021
He lolls around on yachts, wears a luxury watch with a Bitcoin address engraved on its dial, and is suspected of buying it all with money he made as a core member of the REvil ransomware gang. The showy billionaire goes by “Nikolay K.”on social media, and German police are hoping he’ll cruise out of Russia ...
- Warehouse belonging to Chinese payment terminal manufacturer raided by FBI
October 27, 2021
US feds were spotted raiding a warehouse belonging to Chinese payment terminal manufacturer PAX Technology in Jacksonville, Florida, on Tuesday, with speculation abounding that the machines contained preinstalled malware. PAX Technology is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, and is one of the largest electronic payment providers in the world. It operates around 60 million point-of-sale (PoS) payment ...
- Money launderers for Russian hacking groups arrested in Ukraine
October 26, 2021
The Ukrainian cybercrime police force has arrested members of a group of money launderers and hackers at the request of U.S. intelligence services. In a press release by Ukraine’s SSU, law enforcement says the individuals engaged in large-scale international operations where they laundered tens of millions of USD for various hacking groups. To engage with their “clients,” ...
- Missouri Vows to Prosecute ‘Hacker’ Who Informed State About Data Leak
October 15, 2021
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper recently found a huge security blunder: The Missouri educational agency’s site was displaying 100,000+ clearly visible Social-Security numbers for school teachers, administrators and counselors in its HTML source code. The newspaper verified its findings with a cybersecurity professor and then informed the agency responsible for the leaking site – the Department ...
- Russia and China left out of global anti-ransomware meetings
October 13, 2021
The White House National Security Council facilitates virtual meetings this week with senior officials and ministers from more than 30 countries in a virtual international counter-ransomware event to rally allies in the fight against the ransomware threat. Publicly disclosed ransomware payments have reached more than $400 million globally in 2020 and over $81 million in the ...
- Ukrainian police arrest DDoS operator controlling 100,000 bots
October 11, 2021
Ukrainian police have arrested a hacker who controlled a 100,000 device botnet used to perform DDoS attacks on behalf of paid customers. DDoS for hire The threat actor was arrested at his home in Prykarpattia where he was allegedly using the botnet to perform DDoS attacks or to support other malicious activity for his clients. This activity included ...
