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49 Suspected Members of Cybercriminal Group Arrested In Europe

Posted by Soulskill on from the going-for-the-high-score dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A joint international operation led to the arrests of 49 suspected members of a cybercriminal group in Europe. The operation involved law enforcement agencies from several different nations, including Italy, Spain, Poland, Belgium, Georgia, and the UK. Police searched 58 separate properties, seizing laptops, hard disks, telephones, tablets, credit cards and cash, SIM cards, memory sticks, forged documents and bank account documents. The criminals came to the attention of police after repeatedly initiating man-in-the-middle attacks against European companies, using intrusions and social engineering to route corporate payments to their own bank accounts.

23 comments

  1. Make examples of them. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    They should have their brains lobotomized and released. That may help dissuade other cybercriminals from thinking that the world is their oyster.

    1. Re:Make examples of them. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, people who litter should be burned alive.

  2. About time.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Ah, they finally shut down Sourceforge.

    1. Re:About time.. by alphatel · · Score: 1

      Ah, they finally shut down Sourceforge.

      Maybe those calls from Rachel with Cardholder Services will finally end!

      --
      When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
  3. Can't hack without the music. by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 0, Troll

    >> seizing laptops, hard disks, telephones, tablets... ...and 248 CDs filled with shitty European EDM, probably.

    1. Re:Can't hack without the music. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Aww, what's the matter ... butt hurt because they didn't have your 80's mullet metal and the other dreck you listen to in you Camaro?

      Just shut the fuck up if you have nothing intelligent to say.

    2. Re:Can't hack without the music. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trance music is better than EDM for that IMHO.

  4. let the debates begin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    I know many here will choose to side with those arrested. I would say wait and look at the cases. We need to do something about criminal activity online.

    1. Re:let the debates begin by austinpoet · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Who would side with criminals? This isn't script kiddies or freedom of speech protests. It isn't even the search for aliens or nude pictures of celebrities.

      This is not people who say 'you left a security hole open so I used it, here's what you can do to fix it'. This is people who say, you have a security hole, or I'm going to make one for you, and now I'm going to also steal your money.

      This is simply theft. It's as if they stole the snail mail from these businesses that contained payment checks and forged their names as the recipient and cashed them. That it was done via an electronic MITM is just a detail.

      There are lots of places that condone thievery/criminal activity. I suppose the AC of /. could be one of them, but generally I think /. still understand the difference between the actions of hackers and the actions of criminals.

    2. Re:let the debates begin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are many slashdotters who are total anarchists. The authorities never do the right thing.

    3. Re:let the debates begin by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      This is simply theft.

      Dude, it's on a computer. They're just moving 0s and 1s around. Bits just want to be free.

      Are you some sort of Statist music industry SJW shill? Do you even hack bro?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  5. Wow - impossible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow, this was supposed to be impossible without back doors and broken encryption. How could these enforcement officers have managed to do this wonderful work without these government proposed back doors into encryption? By doing actual police work? Unimaginable!

  6. To paraphrase Don Vito Corleone... by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 1

    "A hacker with his computer can steal more than a hundred men with guns."

  7. Slashdot posters by Teun · · Score: 1

    Judging by the low number of reactions here there must have been a significant number of Slashdot regulars among these 49...

    --
    "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
    1. Re:Slashdot posters by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Honestly, what's there to respond to?

      Awesome, they arrested some of the many people using the internet to run scams. Woo hoo!

      We're all safe! Oh, wait, not so much.

      The guy claiming to be from the "Microsoft Service Provider", or the one claiming to lower my credit card, or the duct cleaning guys, or the free cruise ... these people still call me, and the internet is still full of spam and malware.

      Other than a collective "good, but it's a drop in the bucket", did you expect us to declare a national holiday or something?

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  8. Misread. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dang it! I misread the headline as "49 Suspected members of Congress arrested...."

    1. Re:Misread. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Close enough.

  9. I suppose... by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    I suppose that's one way of getting them out of their mother's basements

  10. I'm Sorry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that you like shitty european EDM so much

  11. Buried Lede by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The criminals came to the attention of police after repeatedly initiating man-in-the-middle attacks against European companies, using intrusions and social engineering to route corporate payments to their own bank accounts.

    Corporate lucre being stolen? Break out the task force! Consumers being hacked? Go fuck yourselves.

  12. The so-called man-in-the-middle .. by nickweller · · Score: 2

    "The modus operandi used by this criminal group is the so-called man-in-the-middle and involved repeated computer intrusions against medium"

    Doesn't sound like my understanding of a man-in-the-middle attack more like emailing the victims malware and persuading them to execute it.

    1. Re:The so-called man-in-the-middle .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It sounds like a multi-prong attack was used. So, m-i-t-m may have been used along with other methods. Note the use of the word "and' in the sentence.

  13. 49 less script-kiddies will not make a difference by gweihir · · Score: 1

    This is hyped mostly to make the police-forces involved look good. In fact this will not really do anything to make the net more secure.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.