A 22-year-old man in Northern Ireland has been arrested in connection with an international cyber-crime operation.
He has allegedly been connected to a criminal website which offers access to more than 12bn personal credentials taken from around 10,000 data breaches, from as little as $2 per day.
These credentials were used in attacks within Germany, the US and the UK. Another 22-year-old man was arrested by Dutch authorities in the Netherlands. Officers believe the two men made more than £200,000 in profits from the site.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) began investigating the website in August 2019. NCA investigators then passed this information to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the East Netherlands Cyber Crime Unit (Politie), who launched their own operation.
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The PSNI arrested the 22-year-old in Fintona, County Tyrone on Wednesday. He has since been released on bail pending further enquiries.
The website was taken downat 23.30 GMT on the same day by the German police and the FBI, who seized the domain after running their own investigations.
Andrew Shorrock, senior investigating officer at the NCA, said that this “close international collaboration is crucial to tackling” cyber-crime and added that the website was "an extremely valuable part of a cyber-criminal’s toolkit".
It took international investigations from law enforcement agencies across five countries to shut the website down. Det Supt Richard Campbell, head of the PSNI's cyber-crime centre, said the investigation demonstrates how law enforcement agencies can work together successfully to disrupt major crime.
"Let this be a clear warning there is no hiding place for cyber criminals," he said.
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Source: BBC News
