On Tuesday, police in 17 countries cracked down on an extensive network of ID thieves and what Europol calls “one of the most dangerous marketplaces for the sale of stolen account information in the world.” The European police cooperation Europol writes in a press release that 208 raids have been carried out so far – and that 119 people have been arrested. The operation was led by the FBI in the US and by Dutch police in Europe. Norwegian police were not involved. When Genesis Market was shut down, they had a database of around 2 million identities. Illustrated with crumbs “This website has been seized” was the message that greeted those who tried to log into the pages of Genesis Market on Wednesday, accompanied by an illustration of a person wearing an FBI hoodie in front of some computer screens. Down to the left of the desk was a half-eaten biscuit. The operation is called “Cookie Monster”. – The Department of Justice shines a light into the darkest corners of the internet, says US Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. Genesis sold login information and so-called digital fingerprints. Some cost as little as just over seven kroner each. Others cost several thousand, depending on what they gave access to. For sale was everything from Netflix and Facebook accounts, to information that could have given criminals access to e-mails and online bank accounts. The network is said to have had 80 million different identities for sale. US Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco says they will illuminate the darkest corners of the web. Photo: ANNA MONEYMAKER / AFP / NTB – Sophisticated website – For far too long, criminals have stolen the personal information of innocent people. We want the criminals to be afraid that we now have their information, and they should be, says director of the British National Economic Crime Centre, Robert Jones, to the BBC. Genesis was able to keep going for five years, before the criminal network was logged out by the police. – It was a very sophisticated website, which was easy to use, says Jones. Genesis gave customers access to a page where they could exploit the stolen information in a way that made it look like the victim was using their own machines, where they were. Thus, it did not lead to red lights and security alarms. – We have hit the criminal ecosystem hard by removing one of the key actors, says the head of Europol’s computer crime centre, Edvardas Šileris. Test your e-mail The Dutch police have created a portal where people, including Norwegians, can check whether their identity has been in the Genesis Market registers. There you can enter your e-mail, and you will receive a reply within a few minutes if you are in the Genesis network. If you are affected, the police recommend the following steps immediately: Run an anti-virus program. In most cases, this will be enough to detect and remove the malware. Only after this should you change all your passwords. Notify bodies such as banks, insurance companies and others who should be informed about the identity theft.
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Check if you are affected by Genesis Market – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
