Cyprus Police seized servers that hosted websites selling personal data of US citizens and were the product of hacking, in a joint operation with the FBI, the director of the Electronic Crime Sub-Directorate, Andreas Anastasiades, told CNA.
"The FBI is investigating offences of theft and dissemination of personal data and illegal access to electronic data, where the data of 24 million US citizens was found to have been stolen and offered for sale for illegal purposes to various other agencies or persons," Anastasiades said in response to a question from Cypriots on the issue.
He then added that "it was identified that this data was kept on four websites, in Cyprus, where, in cooperation with the FBI, and after investigation, the disruption of services was achieved. The sale of this data is no longer available and all necessary evidence was seized."
As a result of the investigation, the servers located in Cyprus and hosting these websites were seized. The administrator of the servers, a resident of Cyprus, fully cooperated with the police, according to Anastasiades, while the suspects are abroad.
"The investigation lasted about 6 months for the Cyprus Police and is considered to be of great importance," he said, adding that the case is continuing until the case is fully solved.
In a post on Twitter today, the Cyprus Police announced that it contributed, in a joint operation with the FBI, to take offline an online marketplace that was selling personal data of millions of people in the US.
"Significant contribution, by @Cyprus_Police, to @FBI's international operation to take offline an online marketplace that was selling names, social security numbers and birth dates of millions of Americans. #SSNDOB #Cyprus #cypolice", said the Twitter post, which was accompanied by a press release from the US Department of Justice referring to the case and the contribution of the Cyprus Police in it.
The announcement from the US Attorney's Office states that the SSNDOB marketplace, consisting of a series of websites selling over 20 million social security numbers, was seized and dismantled in an international operation.
"United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg, along with Special Agent Darrell Waldon for the IRS Criminal Investigation Field Office, and Special Agent David Walker for the FBI Tampa Division, today announced the seizure of the SSNDOB Marketplace, a series of websites that operated for years and were used to sell personal information, including names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers belonging to individuals in the United States," it reads.
"The SSNDOB marketplace has registered the personal information for approximately 24 million individuals in the United States, generating more than US$19 million in sales revenue," the U.S. Attorney's Office statement added.
"The international operation to dismantle and seize this infrastructure is the result of close cooperation with law enforcement authorities in Cyprus and Latvia," it noted.
"On June 7, 2022, seizure orders were executed for the SSNDOB Marketplace domain names (ssndob.ws, ssndob.vip, ssndob.club and blackjob.biz), effectively shutting down the site," the statement adds, concluding that "the U.S. investigation was conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation Cyber Crimes Unit and the FBI Tampa Division, with assistance from the IRS-Criminal Investigation's Tampa Field Office. Significant assistance was also provided by the Department of Justice's Bureau of International Affairs, the FBI Legal Attaché Offices responsible for Latvia and Cyprus, the Latvian Police and the Cyprus Police."
Source: Cyprus Times
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