Global operation shuts down malware group ‘targeting millions’

THE HAGUE: A global police operation shut down the servers of one of the world’s largest malware platforms that targeted millions of victims, the EU’s judicial arm said on Tuesday.

A year-long investigation culminated in “Operation Magnus” with investigators from six countries including the Netherlands, Australia, Britain and the United States working together to smash the criminal scheme.

“The infostealers taken down ... targeted millions of victims worldwide, making it one of the largest malware platforms globally,” Eurojust said in a statement.

“Authorities discovered that over 1,200 servers in dozens of countries were running the malware,” said the agency, which is based in The Hague and coordinated Monday’s operation.

Investigators shut down three servers in the Netherlands, seized two domains, unsealed charges in the United States and took two people into custody in Belgium, Eurojust said.

The criminal platforms, called RedLine and META stole personal data from infected devices including usernames and passwords, as well as automatically saved data like addresses, email addresses and crypto-currency wallets. The victims’ devices became infected when downloading software from unreliable sources.

The investigation was triggered when victims came forward and a security company notified authorities about possible servers in the Netherlands linked to the malware.

“After retrieving the personal data, the infostealers sold the information to other criminals through criminal market places,” Eurojust said. “The criminals who purchased the personal data used it to steal money, crypto-currency and to carry out follow-on hacking activities,” the agency said.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2024