Law enforcers of 30 countries liquidated the botnet Avalanche, which each day infested 500,000 computers. According to the National Police of Ukraine, there were three Ukrainians among the five persons detained during the liquidation of the network.
The Avalanche network has been working since 2009, it was used to spread viruses, phishing and spam, as well as for money laundering, according to the agency. With its help, up to 500,000 computers were infected daily. The financial damage from the network is estimated at 100 million euros.
The operation was conducted simultaneously in 30 countries and was coordinated from the Europol office in The Hague. From Ukraine, operatives of the Department of Cyber Police and investigators from the Main Investigation Department participated in it.
During the preparation of the operation, law enforcement officers analyzed more than 130 TB of collected data. During the operation on November 30 of this year, five network organizers were detained in 30 countries, three of them were Ukrainians, one detained in Germany and two in Ukraine. When detained in Poltava, one of the organizers resisted using the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
During the search, police officers seized computers, flash drives, hard disks, mobile phones, SIM cards of Ukrainian and foreign mobile operators, financial documents, bank cards, as well as about $ 72,000.
He is charged with the commission of crimes provided for by various articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 4 of Art. 190 (fraud), art. 209 (legalization of proceeds from crime) and part 2 of Art. 361 (unauthorized interference with computers and networks).
Recall, according to ESET, the hacker group Fancy Bear, attacking the Democratic Party of the United States, two years, hacked computers of Ukrainian officials.