Interpol has arrested 41 people and seized hundreds of servers as part of Operation Synergia, which aims to stop cybercriminal activity. Operation participants from 95 countries, together with cyber security firms, blocked more than 22,000 malicious IP addresses associated with phishing, ransomware and other malicious software.
More than 22,000 malicious IP addresses were blocked, representing the majority of the 30,000 suspicious addresses, including laptops and hard drives, and searches were conducted in various countries.
In particular, Hong Kong police seized 1,037 servers, and in Mongolia, 21 raids were conducted, resulting in the seizure of one server and the discovery of 93 individuals associated with cybercrime. Estonian police seized data on bank phishing and malware. Several major companies, including Team Cymru, Group-IB and Trend Micro, took part in the operation to track malicious activity and identify IP addresses for further action by law enforcement.
The first phase of Operation Synergia was announced in February and resulted in 31 arrests and the identification of 1,300 servers used for phishing attacks and malware distribution. In the new phase, cybersecurity experts were brought in to help Interpol analyze banking threats and phishing infrastructure. They created detailed threat reports, which helped coordinate actions to apprehend cybercriminals.
The joint efforts of law enforcement and cybersecurity experts have significantly reduced the threat of cybercrime, blocked thousands of malicious IP addresses, and protected potential victims from cybercriminal attacks.