Europol smashes a big hacker network

A major international operation against cyber crime, called the Endgame operation, has seriously hit global ransomware networks, Europol and Eurjast said.

In the period from May 19 to 22, authorities from several countries abolished about 300 servers worldwide, neutralized 650 domains, issued 20 international arrest warrants and seized 3.5m euros in cryptocurrencies.

This operation is a continuation of the largest international action against Botenets since May 2024. This time, the focus was on malware for initial access (Initial Access Malware) – tools that hackers use to unnoticed to enter the system and prepare terrain terrain.

Software ransom attacks are a form of cybercrime in which attackers lock the victim’s data and demand a ransom in exchange for re -unlocking. Common goals are hospitals, schools, companies and local authorities.

Malware (Malware) is a general name for malicious software used for infiltration, data theft or computer systems sabotage.

« We hit the very source of the attacks, » Europol said.

During the action were neutralized malicious software Bumblebee, Lactrodectus, Qakbot, Danabot, Trickbot and Warmcookie.

These types of malicious software are often sold as a service to other criminals, who use them to infiltrate the victims’ networks before major ransom software attacks.

German authorities have said that 18 key suspects will be added to the list of EU most sought after today. They are suspected that they are responsible for the development and distribution of malware that have gained access to victims’ networks.

The next major Europol report on cyber crime – Iocta 2025, which comes out on June 11, will have a special focus on the initiative for initial access brokers, announced by Europol. These are persons or groups that sell access to compromised networks, who are often the first step in the digital attack chain.

« This phase shows the police ‘ability to adapt and respond even while criminals are reorganized. » By breaking the key services used by the software redemption groups, we are interrupting the attack chain at the very source, said Catherine de Ball, Europol’s executive director.

During the week of the operation, a command center was formed at the Europol headquarters in The Hague, where investigators from Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States worked alongside experts from Europol and Eurojast.

The Endgame operation continues, Europol said. j