Ransomware suspects accused of thousands of attacks arrested in global sting
- Operation dubbed GoldDust was carried out in 17 countries
- Arrests were linked to the Russian-based hacker group REvil
An international investigation has struck a blow against hackers alleged to be behind thousands of ransomware attacks.
Operation GoldDust involved 17 countries – including the US, Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Canada – as well as Interpol, Europol and Eurojust, an EU agency dealing with judicial cooperation.
The US Department of Justice announced Monday the capture in Poland of a Ukrainian man suspected of being behind cyberattacks including a major one on US service provider Kaseya.
Hundreds of companies in the US and other countries were attacked with extortion software via a vulnerability at Kaseya in early July.
Europol and Eurojust meanwhile announced the arrest of two people in Romania for allegedly using the same REvil software to carry out attacks.
The suspects stand accused of launching around 7,000 attacks against businesses and organisations, in which software was used to lock up the contents of their computers until they received a payment. They allegedly made off with millions of euros.