At least 100 people were arrested during an international operation that mobilized 17 countries, including Spainled by the United States and the Netherlands and managed to deploy its platform Genesis Market, One of the most dangerous markets in the world for the sale of stolen account credentials to cybercriminals.
As announced Wednesday by Europol and Eurojust agencies, the police operation “incomparable” This resulted in the liquidation of Genesis Market, which meant shutting down the illegal service and confiscating its infrastructure.
someone “the biggest criminal facilitators” Access credential packages to personal accounts (from emails to bank accounts and social networks) with a list of ‘bots’ adding more than 1.5 million identities during this international operation.
During this operation, simultaneous raids were carried out against users of this platform all over the world. 119 arrests and 208 searches Number of properties in 13 countries. The coordination of the operation was carried out from the command point established at the General Staff. Europolin The Hague.
Edvardas Şileris, director of Europol’s European Center for Cybercrime, celebrated that the authorities involved in the operation had “seriously disrupted the criminal cyber ecosystem by eliminating it”. one of your lock activators”, and with victims all over the world, “strong relationships” Cooperation with Europol and Eurojust’s international partners was “basic for the success of this case”.
The countries participating in the operation are as follows: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States.
The main criminal product offered by Genesis Market was digital identities: “bootsThese were basically packets of stolen credentials collected through “malware” or account hijacking attacks from infected computers around the world.
Criminals gained access to all data collected by that “bot”, for example fingerprints, cookie history, saved logins and auto-fill forms, and this information was collected in real time, meaning recipients were notified about any password or information change that occurred.
At the time of the takedown, Genesis Market advertised the sale of approximately stolen account credentials. 460,000 computing devices It is found in almost every country in the world.
“Bot” price fluctuates Between $0.70 (0.64 euros) to several hundred dollarsproviding access to bank accounts over the internet for those containing financial information at the most expensive price according to the amount and nature of stolen data.
Unlike other similar markets, access to the Genesis Market was via an open web, but by invitation only, and criminals who bought the “bots” also had the opportunity to use them. private browser Europol says it will impersonate its victim, even in security settings.
Created in 2018, greatly reduced accessibility and low prices barrier of entry for buyers, which has made it a popular resource among hackers.