Ukranian police arrests ransomware gang that hit over 50 firms
Ukrainian police officers have arrested a ransomware affiliate group responsible for attacking at least 50 companies in the U.S. and Europe.
A 36-year-old resident of Kiev, capital of Ukraine was identified as the leader of the group, which included his wife and three other acquaintances.
It is estimated that the total losses resulting from the attacks comes to more than one million U.S. dollars.
It is not known what ransomware strain has been used by the gang to encrypt data on victim computers but they delivered the malware through spam emails.
The Ukrainian police stated that three members of the gang received the ransoms from paying victims in cryptocurrency. In exchange, they provided the decryption tool to restore data.
The police added that as per the preliminary data, more than 50 companies were affected by the attacks, the total amount of damage reaches more than one million US dollars.
To legalize the funds received as ransom payments, the attackers carried out complex financial transactions using online payment services that are banned in Ukraine, passing them around in an extensive network of fictitious identities.
Apart from the ransomware activity, the actors also offered VPN-like services that enabled other cybercriminals to carry out illegal activities ranging from downloading malware to hacking.
These services were used to compromise systems belonging to government and commercial organizations to steal sensitive data, deploy ransomware, or launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
One of the defendants also stole card data of British citizens to buy items from online stores and then resell them online.
The police raided the homes and cars of nine suspects and confiscated computer equipment, bank cards, and flash drives which investigators will examine for additional evidence that could lead to more arrests.
The suspects face criminal charges relevant to money laundering, interference in computers and networks, and the creation, use, distribution, and sale of malicious software.
These arrests were made as a joint effort from law enforcement officers in the U.K., the U.S. and Ukraine.
The cybercrime unit of the Ukrainian police has been very active in recent months, arresting ransomware actors, fraudsters, botnet operators, and phishing actors.
Credits : Bleeping Computer
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