FRANKFURT (dpa): International law enforcement agencies have shut down dozens of servers belonging to cybercriminals and arrested several suspects in an operation coordinated from Germany.
The Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) at the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office and the federal criminal police announced on Thursday that 16 searches were carried out in countries including Poland and Brazil.
Operation "Power Off” focused on so-called stresser services, they said. These are designed to deliberately overload websites to the point that content becomes temporarily inaccessible.
According to authorities, two of the world’s most significant stresser services have been shut down as part of the operation.
The alleged operator - a German national - is reportedly in custody in Thailand. Three further suspected accomplices were arrested in Poland, the statement added.
"Since the start of Operation ‘Power Off’, the law enforcement agencies involved have obtained evidence of more than three million user accounts with criminal links,” ZIT said.
"The German authorities will contact more than 50,000 users of the services taken offline and draw their attention to the potential criminal liability of their actions,” the statement added. -- Bernama-dpa
