Police arrest suspected members of prolific DoppelPaymer ransomware gang

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Police arrest suspected members of prolific DoppelPaymer ransomware gang

A global regulation enforcement operation has led to the arrests of suspected core members of the prolific DoppelPaymer ransomware operation.

German and Ukrainian police, working with regulation enforcement companions together with Europol and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), stated they took motion final month in opposition to the infamous group blamed for quite a few large-scale assaults since 2019.

German police stated they raided the home of a German nationwide believed to have performed a “main function” within the DoppelPaymer ransomware group. On the similar time, Ukrainian law enforcement officials interrogated a Ukrainian nationwide who can also be believed to be a core member of the Russia-linked ransomware operation. The authorities say they’re analyzing the gear seized in the course of the raids to find out the suspects’ actual function and hyperlinks to different accomplices.

A police raid in Germany involving a suspected member of the DoppelPaymer ransomware gang. Picture Credit: Europol

Europol stated in a press release on Monday that the gang was behind at the very least 37 cyberattacks in Germany, including that victims in america — the precise quantity of which was not shared — paid out at the very least €40 million (about $42.5M) to the gang between Might 2019 and March 2021.

One of essentially the most severe assaults DoppelPaymer carried out by the gang focused College Hospital in Düsseldorf. The following failure of crucial techniques prompted delays in emergency therapy, together with the loss of life of a 78-year-old affected person, probably the first death caused by ransomware.

Different DoppelPaymer victims embrace Visser, a elements producer for Tesla and SpaceX; Kimchuk, a medical and army electronics maker; and manufacturing large Foxconn.

DopplePaymer ransomware, which was the topic of an FBI warning in December 2020, is believed to be the successor to BitPaymer, an identical variant of ransomware linked to the prolific Russia-based Evil Corp group, which has been sanctioned in america. In response to reports, DoppelPaymer has since rebranded to “Grief.”