Police Shut Down A Criminal Malware Operation

Uploaded on 2025-06-05 in FREE TO VIEW

European and US law enforcement have taken down AVCheck, a major cyber crime system used by hackers to test if security tools could detect their malware in a a combined operation. The police also collected of information about the cyber criminals themselves.

According to the Netherlands police’s report, they exploited the mistakes of the criminal website’s admins. The criminals were using malware to access computer systems, collect sensitive data, and digitally lock entire organisations out of their own systems.

‘Taking AVCheck offline is an important step in the fight against organised cyber crime, because it disrupts the activities of cyber criminals in the earliest stages and prevents victims.’ Matthijs Jaspers, Team Lead of the Dutch Police High Tech Crime Team commented.

Furthermore, the investigation has yielded key evidence on the administrators and users of AVCheck and its related services Cryptor.biz and Crypt.guru. The data about cyber criminals includes usernames, email addresses, payment information, and other key evidence.

The related services, Cryptor.biz and Crypt.guru, have also been taken offline by the international law enforcement operation led by the Netherlands police and supported by the US and Finnish authorities. The US authorities seized four domains and a server linked to cyber crime services.

ABCHeck was one of the largest so-called Counter Antivirus (CAV) or crypting services, and it allowed malware developers to scrutinize their code against various antivirus solutions. The takedown will make it harder for cyber crooks to carry out malware attacks.

CAV services like AVCheck are essential for cybercriminals to bypass security systems and infect victims undetected, making them key components in malware deployment.

As part of broader efforts, the Dutch police launched a fake AVCheck login page to confront and deter users. The AVCheck service was widely used by suspects involved in Operation Endgame, a recent Europol operation to dismantle malware distribution services.

Police officers made undercover purchases from the crime websites and analysed them to confirm they were designed for cybercrime, according to the court documents.

The officers also reviewed linked email addresses and other data connecting the services to known ransomware groups that have targeted victims in the US and EU.

Image @Politie

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