Science

Spain arrests Ukrainian cyber criminal 'mastermind'

March 27, 2018 07:19·
A Cyber Gang Stole $1 Billion by Hacking Banks and ATMs. Now Police Say They've Caught the Mastermind

A Cyber Gang Stole $1 Billion by Hacking Banks and ATMs. Now Police Say They've Caught the Mastermind

The criminal investigation was led by Spanish police, with assistance from various software companies, as well as law enforcement authorities in the United States, Romania, Belarus and Taiwan.

This gang has been operating since 2013, and they have attacked banks, e-payment systems and financial institutions using pieces of malware they designed (Carbanak and Cobalt).

"The arrest of the key figure in this crime group illustrates that cybercriminals can no longer hide behind perceived global anonymity", said Steven Wilson, head of Europol's European Cybercrime Centre.

Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) facilitated the exchange of information, hosted operational meetings, provided digital forensic and malware analysis support and deployed experts on-the-spot in Spain during the action day. They used this malware to steal one billion dollars in what many described at the time as the "most sophisticated attack the world has seen". In December for example, Moscow-based computer security firm Group-IB identified a gang of cyber-thieves called MoneyTaker as stealing around $10 million (£7.5m) in a string of heists that targeted a number of banks.

"The inclusion of police agencies in at least five different countries demonstrate how hard it can be to track a single actor through all of their online activity and the jurisdictional challenges law enforcement faces while pursuing these criminals", he said.

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Bank employees were targeted by phishing email with malicious attachments, but the group also purchased compromised machines from botnet operators if the IP address was part of a bank or government agency.

Wim Mijs, Chief Executive Office of the European Banking Federation, said: "This is the first time that the EBF has actively cooperated with Europol on a specific investigation".

"It clearly goes beyond raising awareness on cyber security and demonstrates the value of our partnership with the cyber crime specialists at Europol". This provided them with the knowledge they needed to cash out the money. These breaches saw complex malware spread inside the companies, redirecting funds from legitimate accounts to ATM machines in Eastern Europe which would then dispense cash to "money mules" waiting on the ground.

Europol suggests other members have been arrested, including coders, mule networks, money launderers.

The stolen cash in some instances was laundered using cryptocurrencies, Europol said, which was then used to buy goods like luxury homes and vehicles.

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