Moldovan Police Arrest Suspect in 45M Ransomware Attack on Dutch Research Agency

pMoldovan law enforcement authorities have arrested a 45yearold foreign man suspected of involvement in a series of ransomware attacks targeting Dutch companies in 2021ppHe is wanted internationally for committing several cybercrimes ransomware attacks blackmail and money laundering against companies based in the Netherlands officials said in a statement MondayppIn conjunction with the arrest police seized over 84000 93000 in cash an electronic wallet two laptops a mobile phone a tablet six bank cards two data storage devices and six memory cardsppThe suspects name was not disclosed But he is said to have been detained after a search of his residence in Moldova In at least one instance the individual conducted a ransomware attack on the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO causing material damage worth approximately 45 millionppThe attack took place in February 2021 resulting in the leak of internal documents after the organization refused to pay up It was attributed to a ransomware crew known as DoppelPaymerppThe attacker blocked network drives rendered documents inaccessible and stole some of our files NWO disclosed at the time Following a demand for a ransom which NWO cannot and will not accept on principle the organization published some of the stolen filesppDoppelPaymer a ransomware family that first appeared in June 2019 is believed to be based on the BitPaymer ransomware due to similarities in their source code ransom notes and payment portalsppIn March 2023 law enforcement authorities from Germany and Ukraine targeted suspected core members of a cybercrime group that has been behind largescale attacks using DoppelPaymer ransomwareppGermany also issued arrest warrants against three alleged DoppelPaymer operatives lgor Olegovich Turashev Igor Garshin aka Igor Garschin and Irina Zemlianikina who are said to be the masterminds of the criminal groupppAI boosts speed and scalebut also risk Hidden identity accounts can expose your systems if left unsecuredppDiscover how Zscalers experts detect stealthy LOTS attacks hiding in trusted sitesand how you can tooppGet the latest news expert insights exclusive resources and strategies from industry leaders all for freep