Interpol Blocks 22,000 IP Addresses Tied to Hacker Activity
Interpol has announced that, as part of Operation Synergia II, 41 individuals were arrested and 1,037 servers and malicious infrastructures associated with 22,000 IP addresses were taken offline. The arrested suspects are linked to a wide range of cybercrimes, including ransomware, phishing, and data theft.
Operation Details and International Cooperation
According to Interpol, the operation took place from April to August 2024 and involved countries across Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. The arrests and server shutdowns were based on intelligence provided by cybersecurity companies such as Group-IB, Kaspersky Lab, Trend Micro, and Team Cymru, which helped identify over 30,000 suspicious IP addresses.
As a result, 76% of these IP addresses were disabled, 59 servers were seized, and 43 electronic devices were confiscated for further investigation.
Regional Highlights
- In Hong Kong, police shut down more than 1,037 servers linked to malicious services.
- In Mongolia, over 20 searches were conducted, one server was seized, and 93 individuals connected to cybercrime were identified.
- In Macau, authorities seized 291 servers.
- Authorities in Madagascar identified 11 individuals linked to malicious servers and confiscated 11 electronic devices for further investigation.
- Estonian police seized over 80 GB of data and assisted Interpol specialists in analyzing information related to phishing and banking malware.
Ongoing Investigations and Emerging Threats
In addition to the arrests mentioned above, authorities are investigating another 65 individuals suspected of involvement in illegal activities.
Law enforcement officials also noted that generative AI is increasingly being used by cybercriminals to enhance phishing operations, and information stealers are more frequently serving as precursors to ransomware attacks, which increased by 70% last year.
Interpol’s Response to Growing Cyber Threats
Interpol representatives concluded that phishing, ransomware, and information stealers are currently among the most serious cyber threats, and Operation Synergia II is a direct response to their rising prevalence.
Earlier in 2024, Interpol published the results of the first Synergia operation, which took place from September to November 2023. That operation resulted in the arrest of 31 suspects and the shutdown of 1,300 command servers used for phishing attacks and the distribution of malware, including ransomware.