On November 28, 2023, Europol claimed successful detainment of ransomware operators, particularly related to Dharma and Hive ransomware. The operation took place in 4 Ukrainian cities, and is most likely a continuation of a similar operation from 2021.
Dharma Ransomware Actors Detained in Ukraine
In the statement on the official website, Europol claimed searches in 30 properties in 4 cities in Ukraine, namely Kyiv, Cherkasy, Vinnytsia and Rivne. During the action, law enforcement detained the key person of the malware group, and some other actors. Searches also resulted in seizing a huge amount of data related to the criminal activity.
Detained persons are charged with compromising corporate networks in more than 70 countries around the globe and cryptocurrency laundering. Using malicious phishing, vulnerability exploitation and tactics the like, hackers were penetrating the networks. Further, they were using other tools to expand their presence in the environment and launch the ransomware attack. Overall, cybercriminals encrypted over 250 servers of different companies, which resulted in multi-million euro losses.
Europol has proven the relationship of the suspects to Dharma and Hive (which is defunct at the moment) ransomware groups. Investigation also shows that hackers are as well related to the spread of MegaCortex and LockerGoga ransomware back in late 2019. Dharma is the most active among the named ransomware, which is still an outsider of the modern threat landscape.
This operation accomplishes the list of anti-cybercrime actions that take place in Ukraine. Back in 2021, key criminals who standed behind Emotet malware were detained. Another operation that year led to the imprisonment of several cybercriminals related to the same Dharma gang. And even now, amidst the war course, local law enforcement are able to effectively cooperate with international agencies and combat cybercrime.
Europol Detains Group Members – But Why?
As usual, physical detainment of cybercriminals took quite some time, and required a team of investigators to perform property searches. This apparently became a redundant practice over the last time, as law enforcement tends to combat cybercrime in a different way.
The “Duck Hunt” operation, performed by the FBI in summer 2023, took place exclusively in the cloud. Law enforcement managed to detect and seize the entire network of tier 2 command servers of QakBot and managed to delete the malware from infected devices. Same story happened to the IPStorm botnet: the FBI beheaded the network of infected systems by seizing the command server and detaining its creator.
Is this practice effective? Yes, as it disrupts the malware operations, and makes it impossible for hackers to move on. At the same time though hackers remain free, and nothing stops them from joining other cybercrime groups. While decreasing the activity for a short period of time, this approach does not make a lot of difference in the long run.
