The Dutch police arrested three individuals as a result of an investigation into computer trespass, data theft, extortion, extortion, and money laundering.
The suspects were arrested by the Amsterdam police on January 23, 2023. The prime suspect is a 21-year-old man from Zandvoort, alongside a 21-year-old man from Rotterdam and an 18-year-old man of no fixed abode.
The Dutch police started the investigation in March 2021 following a complaint of data theft and threats from a large Dutch company. The investigation revealed that around thousands of national and international small and large organizations were hacked by the suspects and also attempted to extort money from the victims. It is estimated that sensitive data of millions of individuals were stolen.
The compromised data include names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, bank account numbers, credit cards, passwords, license plates, citizen service numbers or passport data.
The hackers demanded a Bitcoin payment from the affected companies and threatened to publish the stolen information online or destroy their infrastructure.
The ransom demanded from the victims ranged between €100,000 and €700,000 and the prime suspect is believed to have made as much as €2.5m ($2.6m) over the past few years.
The Dutch police claimed that the gang sold the stolen data even though the victims have paid the ransom.
The worst aspect in this case is that one of the three men reportedly works as an “ethical hacker” for Dutch security organization DIVD, or Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure.
The Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure (DIVD) foundation is a foundation established in 2019 with the aim of making the digital world safer by conducting research into vulnerabilities in information systems, reporting vulnerabilities found to those involved and offering assistance in resolving them.
He had access to all kinds of sensitive information because he worked on confidential cybercrime investigations as a DIVD researcher.
According to a DIVD spokesperson, the organization had no indications that the suspect had abused his access to personal data. They are just as shocked as everyone else.
Image Credits : CPO Magazine
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