Four Russian nationals have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the 8Base ransomware group after a joint police operation by 14 countries.
The suspects were arrested in Phuket, Thailand, and charged with a number of offenses, potentially carrying decades in prison. At the same time, 27 servers linked to the criminal network were taken down.
The gang was deploying a variant of Phobos ransomware to extort large payments from victims across Europe, the US, and beyond, authorities said.
First detected in December 2018, Phobos ransomware has been widely used in large-scale attacks against businesses and organizations worldwide.
8Base is believed to have targeted more than 1,000 public and private bodies, raking in more than $16 million in ransom payments in all.
"Unlike high-profile ransomware groups that target major corporations, Phobos relies on high-volume attacks against small to medium-sized businesses, which often lack the cybersecurity defences to protect themselves," said Europol.
"Its Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) model has made it particularly accessible to a range of criminal actors, from individual affiliates to structured criminal groups such as 8Base."
8Base developed its own variant of the ransomware, using its encryption and delivery mechanisms to tailor attacks and cause the biggest impact possible.
Who are 8Base?
It has been particularly aggressive in its use of double extortion techniques, which involve both encrypting victims' data and threatening to publish stolen information unless a ransom is paid.
As a result, the group has been the focus of action by international law enforcement for a while. A key Phobos affiliate was arrested in Italy in 2023, for example, while last summer an administrator was arrested in South Korea and extradited to the US.
Two of the four people arrested this week have now been charged in the US for their part in the group: Roman Berezhnoy, 33, and Egor Nikolaevich Glebov, 39, both of whom are Russian nationals.
They are accused of carrying out ransomware attacks between May 2019 and at least October 2024. Victims are believed to include a children’s hospital, health care providers, and educational institutions.
RELATED WHITEPAPER
"After a successful Phobos ransomware attack, criminal affiliates paid fees to Phobos administrators for a decryption key to regain access to the encrypted files," said the US Department of Justice.
"Each deployment of Phobos ransomware was assigned a unique alphanumeric string in order to match it to the corresponding decryption key, and each affiliate was directed to pay the decryption key fee to a cryptocurrency wallet unique to that affiliate."
The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) said the group had had a significant impact on the UK and that, as a result of the investigation, it was able to prevent a number of targeted businesses from falling victim to encryption.
MORE FROM ITPRO
- The hidden cost of ransomware is way more painful than many realize
- How to deal with ransomware remediation
- UK firms are dangerously overconfident about paying ransoms
-
How the UK is leading Europe at AI-driven manufacturingIn-depth A new report puts the country on top of the charts in adopting machine learning on the factory floor in several critical measures
-
US data center power demand forecast to hit 106GW by 2035, report warnsNews BloombergNEF research reveals a sharp 36% jump in energy forecasts as "hyperscale" projects reshape the American grid
-
15-year-old revealed as key player in Scattered LAPSUS$ HuntersNews 'Rey' says he's trying to leave Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters and is prepared to cooperate with law enforcement
-
The Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters group is targeting Zendesk customers – here’s what you need to knowNews The group appears to be infecting support and help-desk personnel with remote access trojans and other forms of malware
-
Impact of Asahi cyber attack laid bare as company confirms 1.5 million customers exposedNews No ransom has been paid, said president and group CEO Atsushi Katsuki, and the company is restoring its systems
-
The US, UK, and Australia just imposed sanctions on a Russian cyber crime group – 'we are exposing their dark networks and going after those responsible'News Media Land offers 'bulletproof' hosting services used for ransomware and DDoS attacks around the world
-
A notorious ransomware group is spreading fake Microsoft Teams ads to snare victimsNews The Rhysida ransomware group is leveraging Trusted Signing from Microsoft to lend plausibility to its activities
-
Volkswagen confirms security ‘incident’ amid ransomware breach claimsNews Volkswagen has confirmed a security "incident" has occurred, but insists no IT systems have been compromised.
-
The number of ransomware groups rockets as new, smaller players emergeNews The good news is that the number of victims remains steady
-
Teens arrested over nursery chain Kido hacknews The ransom attack caused widespread shock when the hackers published children's personal data
