- Investigators succeed in defeating international hacker group
Cybercrime investigators from Bavaria claim to have struck a blow against an internationally operating hacker group. Twelve suspected members of the group "Radar/Dispossessor," which has existed since August 2023, have been identified, and servers used by the group have been taken offline, as announced by the Central Cybercrime Office Bavaria and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office.
The group is said to have primarily targeted small to medium-sized businesses and institutions with so-called ransomware. The criminals allegedly gained access to the IT systems of those affected through vulnerabilities, encrypted the files, and then demanded ransom.
The focus of the incidents was initially in the USA. During the investigation, a further 43 victims were identified in Germany, as well as in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, and Brazil, among others.
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.
The suspects are said to come from Ukraine, Russia, Kenya, Serbia, Lithuania, and the United Arab Emirates. An international arrest warrant has been issued against one suspect accused of specific crimes in Germany. The other suspects are being prosecuted in other countries.
Four German companies were warned in advance of encryption in cooperation with the Federal Criminal Police Office.
In an internationally coordinated action with the U.S. investigative authority FBI, investigators allegedly seized 17 servers in Germany, three in the UK, and five in the USA. They also allegedly made eight criminally used domains unusable. This has taken the criminals' IT infrastructure offline. The focus is now on identifying further participants and gaining insights into more victims.
The group's activities were not limited to cybercrimes, as they also resorted to sending threats and stolen data videos to pressure victims into paying ransoms. Despite operating internationally, several suspected members of the notorious "Radar/Dispossessor" group have faced consequences for their crimes.
