Romanian anti-organized crime prosecutors have detained a 24-year-old man suspected of being part of the hacker group KillSec, as part of an international law enforcement operation targeting roughly 1,000 cyberattacks worldwide.
According to the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), the suspect is being investigated on charges including forming an organized criminal group, illegal access to computer systems, unauthorized transfer of computer data, illegal operations involving computer devices or software, and blackmail.
Prosecutors allege that, beginning in October 2023, members of the transnational group created a technical infrastructure designed to gain unauthorized access to computer systems, steal data and sell it to interested third parties. The group allegedly used encrypted communication channels, cloud-hosted command-and-control servers and online aliases to conceal members' identities.
Investigators say the hackers identified vulnerabilities in victims' systems, purchased stolen access credentials on the darknet, exfiltrated data and subsequently demanded cryptocurrency payments, threatening to publish or sell the stolen information if ransoms were not paid.
The Romanian investigation forms part of Operation KillSwitch, an international probe involving judicial and law enforcement authorities from Germany, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Romania. The operation targeted approximately 1,000 cyberattacks worldwide.
Under a joint investigation team coordinated by Eurojust, Romanian authorities on Wednesday carried out four searches in Bucharest and Vaslui County, seizing data-storage devices. Parallel operations were conducted in several European countries and with the participation of U.S. authorities.
DIICOT said law enforcement agencies took control of the KillSec website on Wednesday and secured at least 110 terabytes of data against further unauthorized access.
Prosecutors have asked the Bucharest Tribunal to place the suspect in pre-trial detention for 30 days pending further investigation.
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