"DoubleVPN" service used by hackers seized and shut down

FILE PHOTO: A hooded man holds a laptop computer as blue screen with an exclamation mark is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Europol, the European police coordinating agency, said on Wednesday that police in Europe, the United States and Canada had seized the domains and servers of "DoubleVPN", a network used by criminals to hide their identity during cyber attacks.

The company's website on Wednesday showed a warning from law enforcement officials saying they had seized the domain, along with information that DoubleVPN kept about its customers.

Europol said in a statement that customers had received access for $25 to a VPN, or virtual private network, that allowed hackers to shield their real identity and location while they broke into networks around the world.

"DoubleVPN was heavily advertised on both Russian- and English-speaking underground cybercrime forums as a means to mask the location and identities of ransomware operators and phishing fraudsters," it said.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Kevin Liffey)