394/67 Thursday, November 7, 2024
Interpol, in cooperation with global law enforcement agencies, announced the arrest of 41 individuals and the shutdown of 1,037 cybercrime-related server infrastructures as part of an operation called Operation Synergia II, which spanned 95 countries between April and August 2024. This operation was supported by leading cybersecurity companies such as Group-IB, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, and Team Cymru, which helped identify over 30,000 suspicious IP addresses. Upon investigation, it was found that 76% of these IP addresses were linked to illegal activities such as phishing, ransomware, and data theft. Authorities seized 59 servers and 43 electronic devices for further examination, and 65 additional suspects remain under investigation.
Key countries involved in the arrests and raids included:
- Hong Kong: shut down over 1,037 malicious servers.
- Mongolia: police searched 21 residences, seized servers, and identified 93 individuals connected to illegal activities.
- Macau: shut down 291 malicious servers.
- Madagascar: identified 11 individuals linked to malicious servers and seized 11 devices.
- Estonia: seized over 80GB of server data related to phishing and financial malware.
Neil Jetten, Director of Cybercrime at Interpol, stated that Operation Synergia II underscores the importance of international collaboration in combating cybercrime, especially with the increasing use of AI to enhance attack efficiency. He highlighted a 70% increase in phishing and data-stealing tools in the past year. Jetten also noted that this effort not only disrupted harmful infrastructure but also protected hundreds of thousands of potential victims from cybercrime.
