three men arrested by Dutch police In connection with the ransomware attack that threatened thousands of businesses.
The 18- to 21-year-old man was said to have made millions of dollars, and ransoms were typically demanded of €100,000, but have occasionally reached peaks of €700,000 or more.
The 21-year-old man from Zandvoort, whom police have dubbed the ‘prime suspect’, is said to have earned more than €2.5 million (US$2.65 million) over the course of his criminal career.
Tens of millions of identities are believed to have been stolen by malicious hackers in attacks against organizations large and small around the world.
The stolen confidential information not only included personal names, addresses and phone numbers, but also dates of birth, bank account numbers, credit cards, passwords, license plate details, civil service numbers and passport information, it said. It is
Such data can be misused by identity thieves and fraudsters to gather personal details and access accounts.
Even when the ransom is paid to the extortionists, the stolen data is said to be commercially sold to other cybercriminals via dark web marketplaces.
Surprise – I can’t believe criminals keep their promises.
Interestingly, one of those arrested by Dutch police was an active member of the Dutch Vulnerability Disclosure Institute (DIVD), a government-backed group of ethical hackers looking for flaws in computer systems. It was reported that there was
The arrested researchers had access to sensitive information about vulnerable systems, which could have been exploited to aid ransomware attacks, according to media reports.
dutch media report In an internal Slack message, DIVD said it “did not see any indications” that the man had abused access.
“We immediately blocked him and denied him access to our systems. We are as shocked as everyone else…he was a great colleague.”
The collaboration with DIVD comes at an inopportune time, as authorities consider additional funding to bolster the country’s cybersecurity defenses.
