Tag: Europol

Old and unlicensed versions of Cobalt Strike, the legitimate testing tool used by pentesters and red teams, are in the hands of cyber attackers. To counter this, Europol has taken down nearly 600 IP addresses of servers in 27 countries in Operation MORPHEUS. Law enforcement agencies have joined forces with the private sector to combat the misuse of a legitimate security tool by criminals who use it to penetrate victims' IT systems. Older, unlicensed versions of the red teaming tool Cobalt Strike were targeted during an operation coordinated by Europol headquarters. 690 IP addresses in 27 countries…

Hope for companies: FBI has 7.000 LockBit ransomware keys

June 9, 2024

The FBI, Europol and many other authorities launched operations against the ransomware extortionists LockBit back in February and May. LockBit's servers, domains and code were confiscated and the first people behind it were arrested. The FBI has now announced that it has 7.000 decryption keys and wants to use them to help affected companies. Operation Cronos took place in February: The target was the LockBit group and its infrastructure with servers, domains and assets. Now the FBI has drawn the first conclusion in a statement. According to the FBI, a total of 26 indictments have been filed against LockBit gang head Dmitry…

Endgame: Europol & Co smash large botnets like TrickBot

June 1, 2024

According to Europol, it was the largest successful operation against botnets of all time: an international operation shut down droppers such as TrickBot, IcedID, SystemBC, Pikabot, Smokeloader and Bumblebee, resulting in the shutdown of over 100 servers worldwide and the seizure of over 2.000 domains. This means that the distribution of ransomware etc. has suffered a serious blow. Between May 27 and 29, 2024, Operation Endgame, coordinated by Europol headquarters, targeted droppers such as IcedID, SystemBC, Pikabot, Smokeloader, Bumblebee and especially Trickbot. The measures focused on dismantling criminal services through...

Hackers crack Europol discussion platform

16 May 2024

In a dark web forum, hackers proudly presented their loot: information that is only for official use. Hackers stole the files from the Europol Platform for Experts (EPE). A discussion platform for investigators. Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, has confirmed to the news platform Bleepingcomputer that an attack on the Europol Expert Platform (EPE) portal has now been taken offline. The authority is now investigating the incident because a provider in a dark web forum claimed that he had stolen “For Official Use Only” (FOUO) documents with confidential content. However, this has something to do with Europol...

Europol: End-to-end encryption blocks police work

29 April 2024

Europol is warning industry and governments that end-to-end encryption in digital media will significantly hinder law enforcement. Meta has just introduced end-to-end encryption on the Facebook messenger platform. According to Europol, violations remain hidden and encrypted. European police chiefs are calling on industry and governments to take urgent action to ensure public safety across all social media platforms. Privacy measures currently in place, such as end-to-end encryption, will prevent tech companies from noticing any breaches on their platforms. Law enforcement agencies cannot preserve evidence. Additionally, this limits law enforcement agencies' ability to obtain this evidence and...

Phishing-as-a-Service provider LabHost smashed – perpetrators arrested

29 April 2024

| PR News, TrendMicro

The phishing-as-a-service provider LabHost was taken offline in a joint, international operation. The PhaaS platform currently hosted 2.000 criminal users who had over 40.000 fraudulent sites online. Security specialist Trend Micro provided full support. A few days ago, international law enforcement authorities led by the British Metropolitan Police Service managed to take the infrastructure of the Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) provider LabHost offline. This blow was accompanied by the arrest of several suspects. Trend Micro supported the operation as a trusted partner in the fight against cybercrime. PhaaS platform: Active since the end of 2021 At the end of 2021, LabHost, also known as…

Access: Former HIVE members arrested

29 November 2023

The cyber attackers in Ukraine thought they were safe for a long time: but on November 21st it was over! A team of global investigators was able to arrest the head of the cyber attack group along with four of the most active helpers. The former HIVE members are said to have encrypted 250 servers of large corporations in recent years, causing damage amounting to several hundred million euros. The cooperation of Europol and many investigators from Norway, France, Germany and the United States was worthwhile. After the APT group HIVE was dismantled in 2021, investigators did not let up...

Europol Report 2023 on Crime-as-a-Service

12 October 2023

Europol has investigated many areas of cybercrime and produced an interesting report, which, however, only highlights individual areas. The so-called Spotlight Report will be presented as part of IOCTA 2023 – Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessmen. The Spotlight report, “Cyberattacks: the pinnacle of crime-as-a-service,” examines developments in cyberattacks and discusses new methods and threats observed by Europol’s operational analysts. It also explains the types of criminal structures behind cyberattacks and how these increasingly professionalized groups are exploiting changes in geopolitics as part of their methods. This…

Genesis Market: Huge dark web platform smashed

7 April 2023