Germany
Germany doxxes Conti ransomware and TrickBot ring leader
The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (Bundeskriminalamt or BKA) claims that Stern, the leader of the Trickbot and Conti cybercrime gangs, is a 36-year-old Russian named Vitaly Nikolaevich Kovalev. “The subject is suspected of having been the founder of the ‘Trickbot’ group, also known as ‘Wizard Spider,’” BKA said last week [English PDF], after another round […]
Germany takes down eXch cryptocurrency exchange, seizes servers
The Federal police in Germany (BKA) seized the server infrastructure and shut down the ‘eXch’ cryptocurrency exchange platform for alleged money laundering cybercrime proceeds. During the law enforcement operation, the authorities also seized eight terabytes of data and cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Dash) worth approximately $38,000,000, making this the third largest seizure of digital assets […]
Germany blocks BadBox malware loaded on 30,000 Android devices
Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has disrupted the BadBox malware operation pre-loaded in over 30,000 Android IoT devices sold in the country. The types of impacted devices include digital picture frames, media players and streamers, and potentially smartphones and tablets. BadBox is an Android malware that comes pre-installed in an internet-connected device’s firmware […]
Police shuts down Manson cybercrime market, arrests key suspects
German law enforcement has seized over 50 servers that hosted the Manson Market cybercrime marketplace and fake online shops used in phishing operations. Two main suspects (currently in pretrial detention) believed to be Manson Market’s operators have been arrested in Germany and Austria under European arrest warrants on Wednesday in an operation led by the […]
Police seizes largest German online crime marketplace, arrests admin
Germany has taken down the largest online cybercrime marketplace in the country, named “Crimenetwork,” and arrested its administrator for facilitating the sale of drugs, stolen data, and illegal services. The law enforcement action was carried out on Monday by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt am Main, the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT), and the Federal […]
Germany drafts law to protect researchers who find security flaws
The Federal Ministry of Justice in Germany has drafted a law to provide legal protection to security researchers who discover and responsibly report security vulnerabilities to vendors. When security research is conducted within the specified boundaries, those responsible will be excluded from criminal liability and the risk of prosecution. “Those who want to close IT […]
DDoS site Dstat.cc seized and two suspects arrested in Germany
The Dstat.cc DDoS review platform has been seized by law enforcement, and two suspects have been arrested after the service helped fuel distributed denial-of-service attacks for years. The seizure and arrests were conducted as part of “Operation PowerOFF,” an ongoing international law enforcement operation that targets DDoS-for-hire platforms, aka “booters” or “stressers,” to seize infrastructure and […]