- The site of the Ransomware 8base group was seized by the police
- Four were arrested as part of dismantling
- The United States and Switzerland can put pressure for extradition
A joint operation of law enforcement groups across the United States, Europe and Asia, has seized the infamous web leakage site of the Ransomware group of 8 bases within the framework of A withdrawal operation which saw four suspects arrested.
The site has now been closed and site visitors have encountered a message informing users that “criminal content” and the site were “seized by the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office”.
The four European suspects were arrested in Phuket, Thailand, with the accusations brought against them include the conspiracy in order to commit fraud by wire and the conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. The American and Swiss authorities would have asked for extradition of the suspects.
Operation Phobos Aetor
The arrests were part of “the Phobos Aetor operation” – and the 8base was previously observed using a “tailor -made version of the Ransomware Phobos” in an attack in which the United Nations data was expelled from computer systems.
Since the group’s beginnings at the beginning of 2022, 8base has been committed to high -level targets, such as the Nidec Corporation, which had more than 50,000 stolen files, including a “ huge quantity ” of them being confidential , in a cyber attack at the end of 2024.
“The strains of Phobos and Ransomware 8base had a significant impact on the United Kingdom, the police supporting more than 200 victims,” said Paul Foster, head of the National Cyber Crime Unit from the United Kingdom Techradar Pro.
“Following the intelligence obtained during the survey, the NCA and our police partners were able to prevent a certain number of companies that have been targeted by these ransomware strains to succumb to encryption and become victims , attenuating the devastating impact that an attack would have had had on their businesses. »»
Ransomware attacks have recently soared new peaks and have a huge threat to businesses – which costs an average of $ 45,000 on average, but often reaching millions for large companies.
This despite research revealing that only around 30% of ransomware attacks actually lead to payment – but even still $ 813.55 million was paid by ransomware victims in 2024, against $ 1.25 billion in 2023.
Like all types of cybercrime, the landscape evolves quickly, as is the police. Groups like Lockbit have undergone major disruptions in recent years and have had trouble bouncing, so the cat and mouse game between criminals and cybersecurity agencies continues.
