Ajit Karn
The Hague: Europol announced on Wednesday that international police have shut down “one of the world’s largest” online markets dealing in millions of stolen identities and account information.
The Genesis Market global search resulted in 119 arrests, involved 17 countries, and was conducted by the FBI and Dutch police, according to the EU’s police agency.
The name of the operation was “Operation Cookie Monster.”
“An unprecedented law enforcement operation involving 17 countries has resulted in the closure of Genesis Market, one of the most dangerous marketplaces selling stolen account credentials to hackers around the world,” Europol stated.
When Genesis Market was shut down, the identities of over two million individuals were listed for sale, according to an agency in The Hague.
Countries such as Australia, Britain, Canada, the United States, and more than ten European nations took action against perpetrators.
“By removing one of the ecosystem’s key enablers, we have severely disrupted the criminal cyber ecosystem,” said Edvardas Sileris, director of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, which assisted in the operation.
The EU’s judicial agency, Eurojust, which is also headquartered in The Hague, stated that it was a “multinational effort codenamed Operation Cookie Monster.”
“Before this takedown, Genesis Market customers were located all over the world and actively purchasing stolen packages of victim data,” it stated.
“Admission by invitation only”
The National Crime Agency of Britain reported that 24 individuals were apprehended in Britain. Another seventeen individuals were detained in the Netherlands.
Europol reported that the Genesis Market sold “bots” that infected victims’ devices with malware or other means.
“Upon purchasing such a bot, criminals would gain access to all the information it collected, including fingerprints, cookies, saved logins, and autofill form data,” the report stated.
The data was captured in real time so that purchasers would be notified of any password changes.
Genesis, unlike so-called “dark web” services, was accessible on the open web “but concealed from law enforcement behind an invitation-only veil,” according to the agency.
“Its accessibility and low cost significantly reduced the entry barrier for buyers, making it a popular resource among hackers.”
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Following a series of Europol-led cyber repressions, the Genesis Market has been shut down.
In April 2022, it was reported that international investigators had shut down “Raidforums,” a vast online forum that sold access to breached corporate databases.
In 2021, it was announced that EMOTET, the “world’s most dangerous” cybercrime malware used to break into computer systems, would be neutralized.
