In the global action Operation Synergia II, Interpol managed to take down more than 22,000 maliciously used IP addresses and servers. In the process, devices were seized and 41 arrests were made.
Interpol’s Operation Synergia II involved 95 countries affiliated with the international police and security organization. Partners from the private sector, including Group-IB, Trend Micro, Kaspersky, and Team Cymru, were also involved.
The action focused on three cybercrime areas: phishing, the spread of infostealers, and ransomware.
Action Plan
Private partners assisted in the operation by monitoring illegal cyber practices to locate thousands of malicious IP addresses and servers. The information was then shared with local police and security agencies through Interpol.
The local enforcement organizations conducted the actual investigation and subsequent actions, including searches, disrupting malicious cyber practices, and legally seizing servers and electronic devices.
Results
A total of 30,000 suspicious IP addresses were identified, of which 76 percent were taken offline. Also, 59 servers were seized. In the actions, 43 devices, such as laptops, cell phones, and hard drives, were seized, and 41 arrests were made. An additional 65 individuals were also placed under suspicion.
In Hong Kong, more than 1,073 servers were taken offline, in Mongolia, one server was seized and 93 individuals were identified who may be engaged in illegal cyber practices, and in Macau, 291 servers were taken offline. Madagascar police identified 11 individuals as suspects and seized 11 electronic devices for investigation. Estonia seized more than 80 GB of server data and is now working with Interpol to analyze this data further.
Also read: Interpol takes down 1,300 mostly European servers linked to cybercrime