14 DAY TRIAL // A group of five hackers were arrested by Ukrainian authorities this month under suspicion of stealing millions from the bank accounts of foreign companies.
The cyberfraud ring was operating out of Odessa, a city in Southern Ukraine, and according to the investigators its members were raking up between 300 and 500 thousand dollars per month.
The hackers allegedly used malware to obtain unauthorized access to the bank accounts of foreign companies, organizations or institutions and siphon cash out.
The arrests were the result of a joint operation between the Ukrainian police, the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the General Directorate of Combating Organized Crime and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).
HostExploit reports that local authorities believe the group might be responsible for stealing $1 million from the accounts of Sony Europe alone.
When raiding the hackers' hideout, the police seized servers, computers, printers, stamps, forms, credit cards, fake documents, fake passports and 350 thousand dollars.
Drugs and weapons were also found, enforcing the idea that these individuals are dangerous organized criminals and not some misguided teenagers, like we've seen before.
The hackers are currently in jail awaiting to appear before a judge, while the authorities are still trying to identify all of their victims and the circumstances in which they were compromised.
This news suggests that Ukraine is serious about its plans to crackdown on cybercrime. A few days ago the country's Parliament passed new legislation to establish a 24/7 cybercrime-monitoring network.
Eastern Europe continues to be a hot spot for online criminal activity, from where some of the world's most dangerous cybercriminal gangs operate.
However, countries in this region have began taking a strong stance against this type of crime. During the past two years we have reported on numerous similar takedowns in Romania.