Hacker working for Russia arrested in Germany

A 24-year-old resident of Schleswig-Holstein was recently arrested on suspicion of collaborating with the Russian hacker group Killnet. The European Union and the United States accuse the latter of attacks on computer systems of countries – allies of Ukraine.

The name of the detainee has not been released. He is suspected of “supporting a criminal organization outside Germany and computer sabotage”. During a search of his apartment on December 12, the police confiscated data carriers, Radio Svoboda reports.

According to law enforcement officers, the suspect offered his services to Killnet and advertised in messengers the services through which Russian hackers carried out their attacks.

Most of the Killnet hackers are in Russia. This makes it difficult to carry out operational measures, said the president of the Federal Criminal Office of the state of Hesse, Andreas Röhrig. At the same time, he expressed his satisfaction with the fact that thanks to the intensive efforts of the investigators, it was possible to identify and detain one of the members of the hacker group in Germany.

The investigation was carried out within the framework of a coordinated Europol operation called Power OFF.

According to DW, the Killnet group hacked computer systems «in the context of war» Russia against Ukraine. Criminals carried out activities directed against NATO countries, stole data and caused damage to Internet resources. In particular, over the past two years, hackers have carried out a number of attacks on servers, as a result of which they were overloaded. The role of the 24-year-old detainee was to prepare the infrastructure for such hacks. On December 11, the Federal Criminal Police Department reported three arrests in Germany and France in connection with the case of the Killnet group.