Germany has taken down a leak site linked to Vanir Locker

German police have successfully taken down a site used to publish stolen data in a new operation to deploy the Vanir Locker malware, underscoring the ongoing challenges in the fight against ransomware.

In Germany, the infrastructure used by the hacking group Vanir Locker to publish the data of the victims of attacks has been dismantled. Prosecutors in the city of Karlsruhe and investigators from the Baden-Württemberg police said they have been investigating the hackers’ activities since June 2024.

Thanks to the detection of servers in the TOR network, which were used to publish the stolen data, the law enforcement officers were able to seize this site and block its activities. It is known that the criminals planned to publish the stolen data of the victims, but thanks to the prompt work of the law enforcement officers, access to the site was blocked and further publication of the data became impossible.

Despite the success of the operation, the investigation into the identity of the hackers continues, and law enforcement authorities have not reported any arrests. Cybersecurity experts believe the Vanir group has ties to other well-known malware groups such as Akira due to the similar design style of the leaked website. The takedown of the Vanir Locker leak site demonstrates the success of law enforcement in the fight against cybercriminals, but challenges remain as hackers continue to find new ways to spread malware.