Dutch police arrested 3 ransomware criminals, aged only 18-21, who made illegal profits of 2.5 million euros
The Amsterdam cyber crime police in the Netherlands recently announced the arrest of three criminals involved in ransomware activities. These criminals attacked thousands of companies worldwide over the past few years and illegally profited up to 2.5 million euros.
The three arrested individuals were aged 18 to 21, which is consistent with the trend of younger ransomware criminal groups in recent years. Previously, hackers who had just turned 18 or even minors have been arrested for involvement in ransomware attacks.
This small group mainly targeted online stores, software developers, social media companies, and some critical infrastructure providers. After successfully deploying ransomware to encrypt victims’ files, they demanded a ransom of 100,000 to 700,000 euros from the victims. The specific ransom amounts depended on the size of the victim. For example, larger enterprises were asked to pay more money.
It is worth noting that the Dutch police investigation found that this criminal group not only demanded ransom but also sold data for profit. Before encrypting the files, the ransomware would package and send the data to servers controlled by the criminals, who would then start encrypting the files and demanding ransom. Even if the victim paid the ransom, their data was not guaranteed to be safe, as the criminals would sell the victim’s data on the black market to obtain additional profits.
The Dutch police began tracking this criminal group in March 2021, when a large Dutch enterprise reported a data breach and alerted the authorities, who then started investigating.
It is estimated that the hackers stole millions of pieces of personal information, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, bank account details, credit card information, account passwords, license plates, and passports. This information would eventually be sold and used by downstream hackers for social engineering or sold to fraud groups for telecommunications fraud.
The Dutch police are still conducting further investigations into this case, and these three individuals will be brought to court in the future.
Via: bleepingcomputer
