Bermuda Post

Wednesday, Jun 07, 2023

'Operation Cookie Monster': International police action seizes dark web market

'Operation Cookie Monster': International police action seizes dark web market

International law enforcement agencies have seized a sprawling dark web marketplace popular with cybercriminals, Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Wednesday, in a multinational crackdown dubbed "Operation Cookie Monster."
A banner plastered across Genesis Market's site late on Tuesday said domains belonging to the organisation had been seized by the FBI. Logos of other European, Canadian and Australian police organizations were also emblazoned across the site, along with that of cybersecurity firm Qintel.

"We assess that the Genesis is one of the most significant access marketplaces anywhere in the world," said Rob Jones, the NCA's Director General of Threat Leadership.

The NCA estimated that the service hosted about 80 million credentials and digital fingerprints stolen from more than 2 million people.

U.S. Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a statement said many of the forum's users were arrested on Tuesday. A senior FBI official said arrests had been made in the United States but declined to provide further details. The investigation into Genesis is still ongoing.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement announcing sanctions against the market called it "one of the most prominent brokers of stolen credentials and other sensitive information."

British authorities said 17 countries were involved in the operation, which was led by the FBI and Dutch National Police and resulted in about 120 arrests, more than 200 searches and almost 100 pieces of "preventative activity."

Qintel did not immediately return messages seeking comment and Reuters could not immediately locate contact details for Genesis Market's administrators, which the U.S. Treasury said were believed to operate from Russia.

Genesis specialised in the sale of digital products, especially "browser fingerprints" harvested from computers infected with malicious software, said Louise Ferrett, an analyst at British cybersecurity firm Searchlight Cyber.

Because those fingerprints often include credentials, cookies, internet protocol addresses and other browser or operating system details, they can be used by criminals to bypass anti-fraud solutions such as multi-factor authentication or device fingerprinting, she said.

The site had been active since 2018.

The NCA said Genesis had operated by selling credentials from as little as 70 cents to hundreds of dollars depending on the stolen data available.

"To get up and running on this you just have to know of the site, potentially be able to get yourself an invite which given the volume of users probably wouldn't be particularly difficult," said Will Lyne, NCA Head of Cyber Intelligence. "Once you become a user, it's really easy to then ... perpetrate criminal activity."

The NCA said countries involved in the investigation included Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, the United States, the UK, Germany, Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

"The Genesis Market lowered the barrier to entry for ransomware groups and allowed many cybercriminals to swiftly scale their operations and carry out targeted attacks for immediate financial benefit," said John Fokker, head of threat intelligence for U.S. cybersecurity firm Trellix. "Without even factoring in the arrests of Genesis Market members, simply removing this immense cybercriminal marketplace from the web will significantly slow down cybercriminal activity."

People can check if they were victims by visiting https://www.politie.nl/checkyourhack.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Bermuda Post
Close
0:00
0:00
Corporations standing up for “LGDP-LGT-LBG-LGBTQ2+ kids” during ‘Pride Month’ be like:
A Major Ukrainian Hydroelectric Dam BLOWN UP
US and European Intelligence Agencies Uncover Evidence of Ukrainian Role in Terror Attack on Nord Stream Pipeline
The driver has been described by authorities as a 21-year-old woman from Tallahassee
Joe Biden falls at the Air Force Graduation
America's Got Talent…
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
If you donated to BLM, you got played
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
Actor Tom Hanks told Harvard University graduates to be superheroes in their defense of truth and American ideals, and to resist those who twist the truth for their own gain
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
France Arrests 10 on Suspicion of Failing to Respond in Time to Migrant Drowning
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Is Saudi Arabia the holiest place in the world? Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions from "The Mount Sinai Stand" Discovered in Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
WATCH THIS: democracy in Russia is so bad!
Ed Davey: It is possible for a woman to have a penis
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Steve Jobs introducing Apple's iPhone, exactly 16 years ago.
China overtakes Japan as world's top car exporter
Last Walmart in North Portland Closing Down
Banking Behemoth vs Ex-Boss: The PMorgan-Epstein Entanglement
Florida's DeSantis seeks to disqualify judge in Disney case
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines calls the British monarchy "an absurdity" he wants to remove in his lifetime
Remarkable video from our Fox drone team
The official tapes of Trump's deposition in the E. Jean Carroll battery (rape) and defamation case have been released.
Here is the full video that the media are purposely not sharing
King Charles III being crowned.
New York procedures cover up cold blooded first degree murder of black man by white man
Newly released video of Donald Trump’s rape trial deposition:
×