European law enforcement authorities say they have dismantled a cybercrime group named “InfinityBlack” after arresting several individuals in Poland and Switzerland.
Infinity Black was a website where hackers could share stolen user credentials. Europol said the site was run by a group that set up multiple platforms specializing in the sale of compromised login credentials. The credentials were sold as so-called “combo lists,” which include many username and password combinations that can be used for credential stuffing attacks.
According to authorities, the InfinityBlack group was involved not only in the distribution of stolen credentials, but also in the development and distribution of malware and hacking tools, as well as fraud.
Five suspects were arrested in Poland on April 29 after the Polish National Police searched six locations and seized equipment worth roughly €100,000 ($108,000). Police have also shut down two platforms hosting databases with more than 170 million entries.
The primary source of revenue for the InfinityBlack group were credentials for loyalty schemes, which they sold to other, less technical groups that would use the stolen loyalty points to acquire expensive electronics.
The cybercriminals used what Europol described as a “sophisticated script” to access a significant number of Swiss accounts storing over €600,000 ($650,000) worth of loyalty points, although the actual losses have been estimated at €50,000 ($54,000).
“The [InfinityBlack] group was efficiently organised into three defined teams,” Europol said. “Developers created tools to test the quality of the stolen databases, while testers analysed the suitability of authorisation data. Project managers then distributed subscriptions against cryptocurrency payments.”
The arrests that took place in Poland last month came exactly one year after Swiss police arrested five individuals suspected of cashing out the loyalty points from the accounts compromised by InfinityBlack. Cooperation between Swiss and Polish authorities led to the arrests of the alleged InfinityBlack hackers.
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Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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