Between 5 and 9 June, 6 suspects were arrested and 36 were interviewed during an internationally coordinated operation in 6 European countries. The targets are all suspected customers of a counter anti-virus platform and crypter service - two cybercriminal tools used for testing and clouding of malware samples to prevent security software solutions from recognising them as malicious.
The operation, codenamed Neuland, was led by the Kriminalinspektion Mayen (DE) with the support of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT), a specialised group of cyber investigators at EC3.
The first phase of the operation, also supported by Europol, was executed on 5 April 2016 and targeted the suspects behind a counter anti-virus and a crypter service , as well as the German customers of the two tools, through a large-scale coordinated action in all state criminal police offices in Germany.
The second phase of this operation, from 5 to 9 June 2017, specifically targeted the international customers of the same two services. The following countries participated in this phase: Cyprus, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Police officers searched 20 houses and 6 suspects were arrested, while 36 additional suspects have been interviewed so far. A large number of devices have also been seized.
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