An international anti-cybercrime sting has led to the arrest of four Russian nationals behind one of 2024’s most prolific hacker extortion gangs, the European law enforcement agency said on Monday.
Europol said the hacker ring, known as 8Base, was “particularly aggressive” in its use of ransomware, where hackers encrypt victims’ data before demanding money to unblock access to their devices or files.
“A coordinated international law enforcement action last week has led to the arrest of four individuals leading the 8Base ransomware group,” The Hague-based agency said.
“These individuals, all Russian nationals, are suspected of deploying a variant of Phobos ransomware to extort high-value payments from victims across Europe and beyond.”
“Threat intelligence identifies… 8Base as among the most active ransomware groups of 2024.”
Involving law enforcement agencies from 14 different countries, the operation allowed police to warn more than 400 companies around the world of hacking threats, Europol said.
Twenty-seven servers linked to the criminal network had likewise been shut down, the agency added.
First detected in December 2018, Phobos is a frequently deployed ransomware tool which tends to target often poorly protected small or medium-sized businesses, Europol said.
According to the agency Phobos also features in 2024’s list of top ransomware threats.
Europol said 8Base had tweaked the ransomware “to tailor attacks for maximum impact”.
Police forces involved included the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Japan’s National Police Agency, Britain’s National Crime Agency and the Bavarian Central Office for the Prosecution of Cybercrime in Germany.
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