Moldovan legislation enforcement authorities have arrested a 45-year-old international man suspected of involvement in a collection of ransomware assaults focusing on Dutch corporations in 2021.
“He’s wished internationally for committing a number of cybercrimes (ransomware assaults, blackmail, and cash laundering) towards corporations based mostly within the Netherlands,” officers stated in an announcement Monday.
Along side the arrest, police seized over €84,000 ($93,000) in money, an digital pockets, two laptops, a cell phone, a pill, six financial institution playing cards, two information storage units, and 6 reminiscence playing cards.
The suspect’s title was not disclosed. However he’s stated to have been detained after a search of his residence in Moldova. In at the very least one occasion, the person carried out a ransomware assault on the Netherlands Group for Scientific Analysis (NWO), inflicting materials harm price roughly €4.5 million.
The assault occurred in February 2021, ensuing within the leak of inside paperwork after the group refused to pay up. It was attributed to a ransomware crew often known as DoppelPaymer.
“The attacker blocked community drives, rendered paperwork inaccessible, and stole a few of our recordsdata,” NWO disclosed on the time. “Following a requirement for a ransom, which NWO can not and won’t settle for on precept, the group revealed a number of the stolen recordsdata.”
DoppelPaymer, a ransomware household that first appeared in June 2019, is believed to be based mostly on the BitPaymer ransomware, as a result of similarities of their supply code, ransom notes, and cost portals.
In March 2023, legislation enforcement authorities from Germany and Ukraine focused suspected core members of a cybercrime group that has been behind large-scale assaults utilizing DoppelPaymer ransomware.
Germany additionally issued arrest warrants towards three alleged DoppelPaymer operatives – lgor Olegovich Turashev, Igor Garshin (aka Igor Garschin), and Irina Zemlianikina – who’re stated to be the “masterminds of the felony group.”
