The SBU cyber-unit jointly with the cyber-unit of the London City Police and the British National Crime Agency blocked the activity of an international hacker group.

It was established that the group has been operating since 2018 and specializes in theft of personal data of citizens of the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe and the CIS for its further sale via the DarkNet.

The SBU operatives received information from the British partners that a member of the group lives in Ukraine. The hacker developed and sold virus software providing unauthorized access to computer operating systems around the world. With the help of the malicious software, the perpetrators illegally seized logins and passwords from Internet sites, e-mail boxes, credit card and e-wallet data. Subsequently, the stolen information was used to create bot-nets, perform DDoS attacks, steal money and personal data.

During the searches of the hacker’s residence, the law enforcement seized more than 20 terabytes of information with databases from the hacked computers and the source codes of the virus.

The perpetrator was served the notice of suspicion of unauthorized sale and dissemination of the restricted information, stored in computers, automated systems, computer networks or on information storage media (Part 1 of Art. 361-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Earlier, the British colleagues detained his accomplice, who is now serving a sentence for cyber-crimes.

The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.

The operation was carried jointly with the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine under the supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.