European Police, FBI Arrest Global Cyber Crime Gang
Düsseldorf, Germany —
German police said Monday they had disrupted an international cybercrime gang that has been extorting large corporations and institutions for years, raking in millions of euros.
Working closely with law enforcement partners including Europol, the FBI and authorities in Ukraine, police in Dusseldorf say they have identified 11 people linked to the group operating under various guises since at least 2010. In recent years they have operated under the name, ‘Indrik Spider’. ‘, ‘Double Spider’ and ‘Grief.’
Among their most prominent victims are the UK’s National Health Service and the University Hospital Dusseldorf. In 2020, their computer was infected with a type of ransomware known as Doppel Paymer. A woman who needed urgent care died after being taken to another city for treatment.
Dirk Kunze, head of the cybercrimes department of the North Rhine-Westphalia state police, said at least 601 victims had been identified worldwide, including 37 in Germany.
Europol said American victims paid at least 40 million euros ($42.5 million) to the gang between May 2019 and March 2021 for releasing critical data electronically locked using malware.
The other three suspects could not be arrested because they were beyond the reach of European law enforcement, Kunze said. German police identified the fugitives as Russian nationals Igor Turashev, 41, and Irinia Zemlyanikina, 36; and Igor Garshin, 31, who was born in Russia but whose nationality is unknown.[ka/jm]
