Europol, accompanied by German and Ukrainian police, captured two members of a group that killed more than 600 people, including a dozen in France.
They thought they were in peace two years after their biggest robbery, justice found them. Europol announced on March 6 the arrest of two members of the group of ransomware DoppelPaymer in Germany, with searches in Ukraine in a base of hackers. The authorities regard them as high-value targets “.
Europol has identified 37 victims of this ransomware group in Germany. One of the most serious hacks was perpetrated against the Düsseldorf University Hospital in September 2020. In the United States, companies crippled by the malware paid at least 40 million euros between May 2019 and March 2021. In France, a dozen SMEs and two municipalities were affected, Mitry-Mory (Seine-et-Marne) and Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes). In total, more than 600 victims have been identified worldwide.
Ransomware attack has become the most profitable and prolific way for hackers to get rich. The hackers trap an employee and then block all of the company’s files by encrypting them. To hope to see your data again, you have to pay an astronomical ransom to the criminals.
Avenues for further investigation
” DoppelPaymer attacks were made possible by the prolific Emotet malware said Europol. This botnet was a key tool for hackers for almost ten years. Criminals used this infection service to find targets and carry out their attacks. Emotet was dismantled in 2021 by Europol. ” The ransomware was distributed through various channels, including phishing and spam emails with attached documents containing malicious code — either JavaScript or VBScript.”
Wow. German police confirm that the arrests are indeed linked to the hospital attack but they've also issued arrest warrants for 3 other Russians blamed for it. One is Evil Corp's (alleged) second in command – Igor Turashev and interestingly another is a Russian woman. pic.twitter.com/vHzTR5f7wI
— Joe Tidy (@joetidy) March 6, 2023
As often in the criminal world, the criminals are in contact with their peers and the pirates work for several gangs in their career. ” Analysis of this data and other related cases should trigger further investigative activities “says Europol. Joe Tidy, cybersecurity journalist for the BBC specifies that the arrest of the members of DoppelPaymer made it possible to identify the leaders of another gang very active two years ago, Evil Corps. The latter had attacked the American treasury in 2019. The individuals would be Russian, which leaves little hope of seeing them in prison if they are still domiciled in their country.
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