The arrest occurs following an investigation, opened in July 2021, which looked at suspected “illicit activities” which would have “generated at least $ 7 million in profit”.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced on Wednesday July 23 in a press release the day before in Ukraine of a “Person suspected of being an administrator” of xss.is, “One of the main places in global cybercrime”.
According to this press release, XSS.is, “Active since 2013”, “Allowed the sale of malware”software to infect computers, “Access to compromise systems, stolen data and ransomware -related services”programs blocking data from a remote computer until the payment of a ransom. “The forum was coupled with an encrypted jabber server, facilitating anonymous exchanges between cybercriminals”said Laure Beccuau.
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“Many illicit activities”
She said the preliminary investigation “Opened on July 2, 2021 by the cybercrime fighting section of the Paris prosecutor’s office and entrusted to the brigade of Fight against cybercrime (BL2C) of the judicial police of the police prefecture, allowed the establishment of judicial captures on the server Jabber Thesecure.biz. ” “Intercepted messages have revealed many illicit activities related to cybercrime and ransomware and made it possible to establish that they had at least $ 7 million in profit”according to the prosecutor.
The investigations were entrusted to investigating judges on November 9, 2021 for offenses such as complicity in damage to an automated data processing system, organized band extortion and criminal association.
“Identified thanks to a second capture carried out as part of a judicial information, the administrator of the forum was arrested on July 22 in Ukraine by the Ukrainian authorities (Cyber Department, The Security Service of Ukraine and General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine), in the presence of the French police in charge of the investigation and with the assistance of Europol”underlined the Paris prosecutor.
Multiplication of arrests related to cybercrime
Several specialized sites present XSS.is as one of the main global cybercriminal forums for the last ten years, named Damagelab initially and then renamed XSS in 2018.
The French and European authorities multiply communications on arrests in connection with cybercrime, while the advertisements of cyber attacks targeting public entities or private groups accumulate.
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In mid-July, the Europol and Eurojust agencies announced the dismantling of the Prorussian hackers group Noname057 (16), responsible for multiple attacks targeting Ukraine and its allies, targeting significant infrastructure in Europe in particular.