Continuing with cracking down on cybercriminals, this time, the agencies have taken down an important criminal facilitator resource – DoubleVPN. Following a joint operation, the European law enforcement agencies have seized servers, logs, and other infrastructure of DoubleVPN.
Law Enforcement Authorities Seized DoubleVPN
According to a press release from Europol, a coordinated LEA operation has led to the shut down of the notorious DoubleVPN.
Specifically, DoubleVPN was a Russian VPN service that facilitated criminals in encrypting their internet traffic twice.
As revealed, the service was heavily promoted on different underground forums offering means to mask their identity. The service offered not only single or double encryption but also provided triple or quadruple connections to the customers.
This high level of potential anonymity was all that made DoubleVPN a lucrative tool for criminals. Plus, it was cheap at ($25) for an annual subscription.
Nonetheless, the Dutch National Police (Politie), Europol, and Eurojust have now taken down this VPN service. As stated in the press release,
This coordinated takedown, led by the Dutch National Police (Politie), under jurisdiction of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office (Landelijk Parket), with international activity coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, has now ended the availability of this service…
This coordinated takedown was carried out in the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT).
The law enforcement seized the DoubleVPN servers, logs, and other data during this joint operation. Shedding light on the spread of the VPN network and the subsequent LEA operation, the press release states,
Servers were seized across the world where DoubleVPN had hosted content, and the web domains were replaced with a law enforcement splash page.
Aside from the three entities listed above, this operation also involved the authorities and law enforcement agencies from Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Bulgaria, the US, UK, Canada, and Switzerland.
Recently, the US Dept. of Justice also announced the shut down of the cybercrime marketplace Slilpp following a coordinated operation.
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