Law enforcement agencies from the US, UK, and Germany collaborated in a successful operation to dismantle the activities of the RADAR/Dispossessor extortion group. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led the effort to shut down servers and sites associated with the cybercriminal organization.
During the operation, authorities seized a total of 3 servers in the United States, 3 servers in the UK, and a significant 18 servers in Germany. Additionally, multiple domains such as Radar [.] TLD, Dispossessor [.] Com, and Cybernewsint [.] Com were taken down. These servers and domains were used by the hackers for coordinating attacks and creating fake news and video platforms.
Since August 2023, the Dispossessor group, headed by a cybercriminal known as Brain, targeted small and medium-sized businesses across various countries including the United States, Argentina, Australia, and Germany. The cybercriminals exploited vulnerabilities, weak passwords, and the lack of multifactor authentication to gain unauthorized access to networks. Subsequently, the hackers stole data and encrypted valuable information, leaving 43 companies unable to access critical data.