Police dismantle international ransomware network

The Dutch police helped dismantle several botnets that played a major role in global cybercrime. Four people were arrested in recent days, the police reported. They didn’t say whether this included Dutch people. Sixteen searches were carried out worldwide, including one in the Netherlands.

The police said that “Operation Endgame” was the largest operation ever to combat botnets involved in ransomware worldwide. According to the police, taking down the botnets “disrupted the infrastructure of many cybercriminals at the same time.”

A botnet is a network of computers infected with malware. Computers typically get infected with malware through an email phishing attack, often without their owners' knowledge. Criminals use botnets to carry out ransomware attacks or commit other crimes, like financial fraud, via infected computers.

In the Netherlands, the police took down 33 servers in various data centers. Over a hundred were taken offline worldwide. According to the police, one of the main suspects earned 69 million euros in cryptocurrency from his criminal activities. The authorities will seize that as soon as possible.

According to the police, the financial damage caused by these botnets runs into the hundreds of millions of euros. Millions of people fell victim to it.

The police warned that Operation Endgame is not over yet. New actions are coming. They urged criminals and witnesses to come forward.