Europe
Member of The Com sent to prison for blackmail, sextortion
A member of “The Com,” a loose-knit online cybercrime collective that targets children and teenagers, has been sentenced to two years in prison for blackmail and sextortion offenses against nearly 120 victims worldwide. 20-year-old Justin Swaddle from Leeds (known as ‘Epstein’, ‘Rugen’ and ‘Moscow’ on Snapchat, Telegram, and Discord) was first arrested in October 2023 […]
Valve notifies Steam hardware customers of a data breach
Video game publisher and digital distribution giant Valve is notifying Steam hardware customers in Europe that hackers stole their data after hacking its shipping partner, CEVA Logistics. CEVA Logistics (a fully-owned subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group, the world’s third-largest shipping company) operates 1,000 warehouses, handled 15 million shipments last year, and reported $18.3 billion […]
Europol flags 4,340 URLs for removal in ‘The Com’ crackdown
Europol has flagged 4,340 URLs for removal during a multi-week operation targeting online content linked to “The Com,” a loosely organized network of nihilistic violent extremist groups. Investigators from nine countries (i.e., Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden) took part in what Europol called “Referral Action Days” between June and […]
EU fines Google $1 billion for search, app store antitrust violations
The European Commission fined Google €890 million ($1 billion) on Thursday after finding the company had violated the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which ensures fair online competition. Google was designated a gatekeeper for Google Search in September 2023, with non-compliance investigations opened in March 2024. On Thursday, the Commission said the company favored its own services on […]
Google loses final appeal to overturn €4.1 billion EU fine
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has dismissed Google’s final appeal against a €4.1 billion ($4.7 billion) antitrust fine over the company’s use of Android to promote its Chrome browser and search service. This is the conclusion of a European Commission decision in 2018 that Google abused its dominant market position by using Android agreements […]
Council of Europe investigates ShinyHunters data breach claims
The Council of Europe, the continent’s oldest intergovernmental body, is probing claims of a data breach made by the ShinyHunters extortion group over the weekend. As Europe’s leading human rights organization, the Council represents 46 European member states and a population of over 700 million people, promoting democracy and the rule of law across Europe […]
Police dismantles fake ID marketplace used by migrant smugglers
French and Spanish authorities took down an online marketplace selling fake identity documents to migrant smuggling rings operating within the European Union. On May 27, law enforcement officers arrested one suspect in Alicante, Spain, and seized document-production equipment and approximately 800 counterfeit European identity documents from an apartment rented under a false name. This investigation […]
Eurail says December data breach impacts 300,000 individuals
Eurail B.V., a European travel operator that provides digital passes covering 33 national railways, says attackers stole the personal information of over 300,000 individuals in a December 2025 data breach. Eurail is a Netherlands-based company that sells Interrail and Eurail passes for multi-country train travel across Europe, passes that are also available to young Europeans […]
Dutch Finance Ministry takes treasury banking portal offline after breach
The Dutch Ministry of Finance took some of its systems offline, including the digital portal for treasury banking, while investigating a cyberattack detected two weeks ago. When it disclosed the incident last week, the ministry said the March 19 security breach didn’t affect systems used to manage tax collection, income-linked subsidies, and import/export regulations for citizens and […]
European Commission confirms data breach after Europa.eu hack
The European Commission has confirmed a data breach after its Europa.eu web platform was hacked in a cyberattack claimed by the ShinyHunters extortion gang. GeekFeed first reported on Friday that this breach affects at least one of the Commission’s AWS (Amazon Web Services) accounts. The Commission says the attack didn’t disrupt any Europa websites and that its […]