[Stiri IT] Ransomware hackers 'wreaking havoc' arrested in Ukraine

[REFLX]

European cyber police have arrested a 32-year-old suspected of being the ringleader of a ransomware gang operating in Ukraine.

In raids across the country authorities seized laptops and arrested four other alleged hackers.

The gang are accused of successfully extorting "several hundred millions of euros" from victims in 71 countries.

The arrests are the latest efforts by international police to control the rising problem of ransomware.

Ransomware is malicious computer software that locks up systems until a ransom is paid to a hacker, usually in cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.

Europol says officers searched 30 properties last week resulting in the arrests of the five Russian speakers.

Investigators have not said which nationality they were.

For years Russia has been accused of harbouring ransomware gangs and arrests are extremely rare in the country.

Ransomware operations are often run as a "software as a service" scheme, where hackers pay a percentage of profits to the leaders of gangs who develop the malicious software needed for attacks.

Hacker "affiliates" can carry out attacks anonymously from anywhere in the world. In the last few years arrests of affiliates have taken place in South Korea, Poland, Switzerland, Canada and increasingly in Ukraine.

source