Hundreds of millions of euros in damage
The Ukrainian was arrested in June in Slovakia and is suspected of belonging to the “GandCrab” group, said the Baden-Württemberg Cybercrime Center in Karlsruhe and the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office (LKA) in Stuttgart. “The economic damage caused worldwide by this group’s encryption attacks is estimated at several hundred million euros.”
The person arrested is specifically accused of commercial extortion and computer sabotage. According to the information, he allegedly illegally gained access to the computer networks of 22 German companies and institutions in the spring of 2019 and encrypted their data with malware (“ransomware”) in exchange for up to 15,000 US dollars in digital currencies for decryption to demand.
Numerous companies warned in good time
“As a result, for example, production at the attacked companies was interrupted because important design data could not be accessed,” the statement says. These 22 victims alone suffered economic damage of more than 2.4 million euros due to the data encryption and the system failure. According to a spokesman for the cybercrime center, one focus is on southern Germany. In addition to the theater, nine of the man’s victims are based in Baden-Württemberg.
According to the report, the LKA also compiled more than 80 cases from Germany with a total loss of almost 33 million euros, which can be assigned to “GrandCrab” and a successor group. Even greater damage was averted because the LKA warned more than 300 companies in good time. “At least 17 of these companies had their data encrypted imminently.”
BKA, FBI and Europol involved
In addition, two other suspected key players have been identified, the authorities said. “The two men with Russian citizenship who are wanted with international arrest warrants are the alleged heads of the groups and the alleged developer of the blackmail software.”
According to the information, the background is long-standing international investigations. In addition to national authorities in several countries, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the US Secret Service, the US Federal Police FBI and the European police authority Europol are involved.
Foreign authorities have already arrested several suspected members of the two groups, it said. As a result, a prison sentence of several years was imposed in the USA. In addition, parts of the cyber criminals’ infrastructure could have been paralyzed and several decryption programs could have been developed.
The new cybercrime center in Baden-Württemberg has now reported a successful investigation. (Archive image) Photo: Uli Deck/dpa
