Law enforcement agencies from multiple countries, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have seized a sprawling dark web marketplace popular with cybercriminals, arresting dozens.
in an operation dubbed by the FBI “Operation Cookie Monster”.
British authorities said 17 countries were involved in the operation, led by the FBI and Dutch police which resulted in about 120 arrests,
Genesis Market was an online forum that hosted about 80 million private credentials and digital fingerprints stolen from more than two million people around the world.
Genesis was assessed by the FBI as
“One of the most significant access marketplaces anywhere in the world”
United States Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement many of the forum’s users were arrested on Tuesday. A senior FBI official said arrests had been made in the US but declined to provide further details. The investigation into Genesis is still ongoing.
The US Treasury Department, in a statement announcing sanctions against the market, called it “one of the most prominent brokers of stolen credentials and other sensitive information”.
Genesis specialised in the sale of digital products, especially “browser fingerprints” harvested from computers infected with malicious software.
Rather than simply stealing someones username and password, hackers can use malware to steal cookies from your browser that contain security tokens to pre-authenticate you so you don’t have to keep logging in to sites and apps.
You know how when you access Facebook on your computer or laptop… You are not asked to enter your username and password each time ? That’s because a cookie on your browser already has your credentials and can authenticate your ID when the site loads. However hackers, using malware, can steal those cookies and then inject them in to their own browser and authenticate themselves as you! Seemingly bypassing the need for passwords AND multi factor authentication!
The site had been active since 2018 with around 33,000 registered users.
The FBI said Genesis had operated by selling credentials from as little as 70 cents to hundreds of dollars, depending on the stolen data available.
Genesis was an invite only forum, so to get on board you needed to get an invite from another hacker.
The Genesis Market lowered the barrier to entry for ransomware groups and allowed many cybercriminals to swiftly scale their operations and carry out targeted attacks for immediate financial benefit.