As part of an international law enforcement operation, Europol announced on Tuesday that a couple of individuals suspected of being tied to the DD4BC cybercriminal group have been identified. DD4BC (DDoS “4” Bitcoin) has been launching DDoS attacks against organizations from around the world, demanding Bitcoin payments to stop their attacks.

Since 2014, DD4BC has been responsible for DDoS attacks that targeted hundreds of companies in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. In a collaborated effort, law enforcement agencies from Austria, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the United Kingdom, coordinated by Europol, launched Operation Pleiades.

Key members of the cybercrime group in were located in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One individual, suspected of being a key member of DD4BC, has been arrested, and another suspect was detained.

“Law enforcement and its partners have to act now to ensure that the cyberspace affecting nearly every part of our daily life is secure against new threats posed by malicious groups. These groups employ aggressive measures to silence the victims with the threat of public exposure and reputation damage,” said Wil van Gemert, Europol’s Deputy Director of Operations. “Without enhanced reporting mechanisms law enforcement is missing vital means to protect companies and users from recurring cyber-attacks. Police actions such as Operation Pleiades highlight the importance of incident reporting and information sharing between law enforcement agencies and the targets of DDoS and extortion attacks.”

Morten Kjaersgaard, CEO of Heimdal Security, told SecurityWeek. “DDoS attacks have been increasingly frequent in the past 6 months, so the Europol and police task forces across Europe are sending a strong signal that such attacks won't be left without consequences, especially since DD4BC is a primary driver for some of the more prominent attacks.”

Source: Security Week