- Bavarian police crack down on international hacker gangs
Cybercrime investigators from Bavaria have reported a successful strike against an internationally active hacker group. Twelve suspected members of the group Radar/Dispossessor, which has been active since August 2023, have been identified, and servers used by the group have been taken offline, according to the Central Cybercrime Office Bavaria and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office.
Hackers extort businesses worldwide
The group is said to have primarily targeted small to medium-sized businesses and institutions using so-called ransomware. The criminals allegedly gained access to the IT systems of their victims through vulnerabilities, encrypted their files, and then demanded a ransom.
The initial focus of these crimes was reportedly in the USA. During the investigation, a further 43 victims were identified, located in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Honduras, India, Canada, Croatia, Peru, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Germany.
To increase pressure, the suspects are said to have sent videos containing stolen data to the victims and presented a website where they threatened to publish the data if no payment was made. In the USA, the group also targeted hospitals, compromising patient data. Vulnerable computer systems, weak passwords, and the lack of two-factor authentication served as entry points into the corporate IT systems.
Authorities disable servers and domains
The suspects identified by the investigators come from Ukraine, Russia, Kenya, Serbia, Lithuania, and the United Arab Emirates. An international arrest warrant has been issued for one suspect accused of specific crimes in Germany. The other suspects are being prosecuted in their respective countries.
In collaboration with the Federal Criminal Police Office, four German companies were warned in time to prevent encryption.
In an internationally coordinated action with the US federal police FBI, investigators seized 17 servers in Germany, three in the UK, and five in the USA. They also made eight criminally used domains inaccessible, effectively taking the criminals' IT infrastructure offline. The focus now is on identifying further participants and gathering information about more victims.
The group is known to have demanded ['The ransom'] from their victims, threatening to publish stolen data if it wasn't paid. The seizure of servers and the rendering of ['The ransom'] demand sites inaccessible by authorities has significantly disrupted the operations of the Radar/Dispossessor hacker group.
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