Massive cybercrime crackdown disrupts over 22K malicious IPs

More than 22,000 malicious IP addresses leveraged for various cybercriminal activities have been dismantled between April and August as part of the Interpol-led global law enforcement action Operation Synergia II, which involved 95 countries and cybersecurity firms Trend Micro, Group-IB, Kaspersky, and Team Cymru, reports BleepingComputer.

Aside from the takedowns of over 1,300 malicious services’ servers in Hong Kong and Macau, Operation Synergia II also resulted in server sequestration and threat actor identification in Mongolia and Madagascar. Over 80 GB of server data had also been obtained in Estonia, with analysis of phishing and banking malware-related information already underway, according to Interpol, which has also arrested 41 individuals associated with cybercrimes in the operation. Such a development emphasizes the value of global cooperation in tackling cybercrime, noted Interpol Cybercrime Directorate Head Neal Jetton. “Together, we’ve not only dismantled malicious infrastructure but also prevented hundreds of thousands of potential victims from falling prey to cybercrime,” Jetton added.