A significant illegal streaming piracy operation has been dismantled through a coordinated effort led by Italy’s Postal and Cybersecurity Police Service. This operation involved collaboration with Europol, Eurojust, and a specialized cyber team linked to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Ongoing investigations have revealed that the dismantled service was also being utilized to disseminate malware, highlighting an intertwined relationship between piracy and cyber threats.
Approximately 270 officers from the Postal Police, accompanied by representatives from various law enforcement agencies, executed raid operations across multiple countries including Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Romania, Hong Kong, China, Switzerland, Sweden, and Croatia. This extensive operation culminated in the arrest of 96 individuals allegedly connected to the piracy syndicate.
The operation, dubbed “Taken Down,” was spearheaded by Catania Police, who confirmed the disruption of infrastructure based in Romania and Hong Kong. While they denied media claims that the infrastructure was directly used for malware distribution, reports from a source on Telegram indicate that the service, masquerading as an IPTV provider, may have offered premium services that were exploited for illicit activities, including malware dissemination. This aspect remains a focal point of the ongoing investigation.
It is already well-documented that piracy-centric websites often serve as fertile grounds for malicious malware activity. These sites not only attract large volumes of traffic but also generate considerable revenue through pop-up advertisements and clickbait, making them appealing targets for cybercriminals. According to data from the Italian Postal Police and Catania’s Prosecutor’s Office, the “Taken Down” initiative successfully dismantled a service that catered to over 22 million users, reportedly generating around $265 million in revenue on a monthly basis.
Law enforcement officials have raised alarms about the detrimental impact of such fraudulent streaming services on the global film industry, with current estimates suggesting annual losses of approximately $10 billion due to piracy-related activities.
In the current cybersecurity arena, it is important to recognize that pirated streaming services can compromise user devices in a myriad of ways. Such services may monitor user activity, extract sensitive information including banking credentials, degrade device performance, inundate users with intrusive advertisements, and potentially convert compromised devices into nodes for cryptocurrency mining or hubs for distributing further malware.
Ad
