Europol’s global crackdown takes over 373,000 dark websites offline

• Europol’s ‘Operation Alice’ dismantles vast network of dark web scams
• 373,000 sites closed, 105 servers seized, operator identified
• 440 customers investigated for attempting to purchase CSAM; global agencies involved

Earlier this month, Europol led a global operation against a major cybercrime network. This resulted in the removal of hundreds of thousands of dark websites, the seizure of over a hundred servers and other hardware, and the identification of hundreds of cybercriminals and cybercrime enablers.

For the past seven years (since 2019), a Chinese man has been running a network of dark websites called “Alice with Violence CP”. This network offered child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and cybercrime as a service (CaaS) to its customers, through a vast network of more than 373,000 websites.