Cyber extortionMembers of a sophisticated ransomware ring arrested in Europe

A cybercrime ring which infected millions of computers in order to extort money from the owners has been dismantled, according to the European police agency.

The suspected leader of the network was arrested last December in the United Arab Emirates according to Francisco Martinez, Spain’s secretary of state for security. 

Cnet reports that the virus was identified two years ago after it had infected around 20,000 computers in thirty nations.

Disguising themselves as various police agencies, the suspects infected computers with a virus and told the owners that illegal online activity was detected and that they must pay a hefty fine in order to have their computers unlocked. The total amount of money the group received is undetermined.

According to investigators, forty-eight variants of the virus have been identified. The virus usually installed itself by conning users into downloading a malicious file through a socially engineered message.

The group usually demanded a fine of  about $134,  and at least 3 percent of the owners of the infected computers paid the money, Europol Director Rob Wainwright said.

“It’s impossible to know for sure how many citizens were affected by this, but we estimate hundreds of thousands of Europeans were,” Wainwright told Cnet, adding that the gang had invoked his own name in its activities. “If we take into account that the average fine was 100 euros and 3 percent…paid it, then the estimated damage is millions of euros.”

In addition to the leader, ten other suspects, including six Russians, two Ukrainians, and two Georgians, were arrested in Costa del Sol, Spain.

The Spanish government said it received more than 750,000 queries from computer owners on how to unlock their computers.