UK and Spanish police hack off cyber gang

FIVE people have been arrested, three in Spain and two in the UK, in an investigation into cyber hacking co-ordinated by Europol.

The group were allegedly developing and selling sophisticated tools to provide ‘invisibility’ to all types of malicious malware and to potentially infect thousands of computers around the world. The tools would not appear suspicious to anti-virus programs.

Activation of the remote control Trojans, keyloggers and back doors would allow them to control the computers of their victims.

Europol  co-ordinated the complex investigation between the Technological Research Unit of the Spanish National Police, the UK National Cybercrime Unit TITAN and the threat investigation service of the anti-virus firm Trend Micro.

The tools were promoted on hacking forums in exchange for payments – usually in bitcoins – and fees were based on the number of infections actually achieved.

According to investigators the activity had been taking place since the middle of 2013, producing substantial financial rewards to those responsible.