Ukrainian law enforcement, in collaboration with Europol and a leading cloud provider, successfully apprehended a 29-year-old cybercriminal in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on January 9. The suspect is believed to be the mastermind behind an elaborate cryptojacking operation that utilized hacked accounts to create one million virtual servers, generating a staggering $2 million in cryptocurrency.
The individual’s arrest follows months of intensive collaboration between Ukrainian authorities, Europol, and the cloud provider. Three properties were searched, yielding crucial evidence against the suspect responsible for orchestrating the large-scale crypto-mining scheme.
Europol revealed that the cybercriminal engaged in cryptojacking by exploiting cloud computing resources. This malicious activity involves unauthorized access to cloud infrastructure, allowing the attacker to harness computational power for mining cryptocurrencies. The compromised organizations, unwittingly providing the computing resources, suffered degraded CPU and GPU performance while the criminal profited from the illicit mining.
The suspect is believed to have mined over $2 million (EUR 1.8 million) in cryptocurrencies, highlighting the lucrative nature of such cybercrimes. Notably, by stealing cloud resources for mining, the criminal avoided the expenses associated with servers and power, which typically outweigh the illicit gains.
This case underscores the effectiveness of collaborative efforts between law enforcement and the private sector. The breakthrough originated when the cloud provider informed Europol in January 2023 about compromised user accounts linked to the illicit operation. Europol then shared this critical information with Ukrainian authorities, leading to the initiation of a comprehensive investigation.
