Australia helps disrupt major hacking group

Australia played a key role in a joint law enforcement effort to disrupt notorious Eastern European cybercrime group Fin7, with three alleged high ranking members having been arrested in Europe and extradited to face charges in the US.

Fin7 is alleged to have attacked business across Australia, the US, the UK and France. The US FBI has accused the group of attacking more than 100 US companies across 47 states in the US alone, stealing more than 15 million card records from over 6500 point of sale terminals.

The joint enforcement effort has led to the arrest and indictment in the US of Dmytro Fedorov, Fedir Hladyr and Andrii Kopakov.

The three suspects have each been charged with 26 counts of felony crimes including conspiracy, wire fraud, computer hacking, access device fraud and identity theft.

The group is accused of initiating cyber attacks through sophisticated targeted phishing emails with attached files infected with embedded malware, often accompanied by social engineering through phone calls to the targeted employee about the same topic.

According to the FBI, malware-infected computers were connected to one of Fin7’s global command and control servers, where the group could use a specially designed control panel to inject a variety of additional malware to the computer.

The cybercrime group most commonly focused on the hospitality sector — including fast food outlets and casinos — as well as other businesses with high-frequency point of sale transactions.

The FBI has also accused the group of creating a fake security business called Combi Security to recruit new members.

According to Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Angus Taylor, Australia’s involvement in the investigation is “a great example of how the Australian Government is targeting cybercriminals wherever they are”.

He said Australian agencies are combining sophisticated cyber capabilities with traditional police work to pursue criminals targeting Australia no matter the jurisdiction.

“International crime requires an international response. There is an ongoing global effort to crack down on cybercriminals who are targeting our businesses and hardworking Australians. Australia has helped deal a body blow to a prolific international hacking group.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Lasha Kilasonia

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