PANews reported on February 13 that according to Cryptonews, Thai police arrested four Russian suspects in Phuket who were suspected of using Phobos ransomware to carry out crypto-ransom attacks on 17 companies in Switzerland. The operation was the result of joint law enforcement by 14 countries, and a total of 27 servers related to the criminal network were dismantled. Currently, the four suspects are awaiting extradition to face relevant charges.
The suspects are accused of hacking into the networks of several European companies, encrypting data and demanding ransom in cryptocurrency. According to the investigation, the suspects are linked to about 1,000 victim cases worldwide, involving the theft of about $16 million worth of Bitcoin.
Phobos ransomware mainly targets small and medium-sized enterprises with weak network security protection. The arrested suspect is believed to be a core member of the 8Base ransomware organization, which uses complex means to infiltrate systems and extort funds in the field of encryption ransomware.
