Japan extradited the alleged leader of the Qilin hacker group to Germany

Japan has extradited to Germany one of the alleged leaders of the Russian cybercrime group “Qilin,” which extorted hundreds of millions of dollars from companies around the world. According to Herbert Royle, Minister of the Interior for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the suspect was arrested in Japan while on vacation.

German law enforcement officials describe “Qilin” as one of the most aggressive cybercrime organizations. Since 2024, the group has demanded a total of approximately $2.9 billion from at least 4,000 companies and institutions. German police infiltrated the group, conducted months of surveillance, and tracked cryptocurrency transactions linked to its members.

Among the most significant attacks and consequences of the hackers’ activities are the following:

* extortion of funds from at least 30 businesses in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia;
* a large-scale cyberattack on the UK’s National Health Service, which disrupted more than 10,000 doctor’s appointments;
* an attack on the Japanese brewing company Asahi, which disrupted its ordering and delivery systems and led to a drop in the company’s stock price.

This was reported by DW.

A Ukrainian IT specialist was sentenced in Zurich to 12 years and nine months in prison for participating in cyberattacks using ransomware. The court also banned him from entering Switzerland for 10 years.

An unknown hacker stole about 4,000 bitcoins worth approximately $340 million from the Liquid Network wallet but later returned most of the assets. Liquid Network suspended operations until the incident was resolved.