Law enforcement agencies from 17 countries collaborated in an effort to disrupt Genesis Market, a notoriously active cybercrime website, however, the overall effect on the site’s infrastructure may be constrained.
Launched in 2018, Genesis is an invite-only marketplace that offers bots to cybercriminals, which can be used to gain access to online accounts and systems. These bots are created using information obtained by malware from infected devices. The operation, named ‘Cookie Monster’, resulted in roughly 120 arrests and 200 property searches.
Investigators said Genesis has offered data from over 1.5 million compromised computers, totaling more than 80 million account credentials. It has earned $8.7 million in cryptocurrency. The US Department of the Treasury on Wednedsay announced sanctions against Genesis Market, revealing that it’s likely operated out of Russia.
Court documents revealed that investigators managed to gain access to backend servers and other infrastructure supporting Genesis, which enabled them to take control of several domains. However, the site can still be accessed on Tor and it remains stable and functional. In addition, the site’s administrators announced that they plan on setting up new domains.
More than 100 people have been arrested around the world, but they are likely users of the site rather than administrators. Cybersecurity firm ZeroFox noted that Genesis Market continues to be updated with new information that is offered for sale.
Dutch police have created an online tool that allows users to check if their credentials were sold on Genesis. In addition, the Genesis data has also been added to the Have I Been Pwned breach notification service.
Key Points:
- Law enforcement agencies from 17 countries have worked together to disrupt the notorious cybercrime website Genesis Market.
- The operation, named ‘Cookie Monster’, resulted in roughly 120 arrests and 200 property searches.
- Investigators said Genesis has offered data from over 1.5 million compromised computers, totaling more than 80 million account credentials.
- The site can still be accessed on Tor and it remains stable and functional.
- Dutch police have created an online tool that allows users to check if their credentials were sold on Genesis.