By Vasilis Koufopoulos

Milestone date for Greece in the fight against it piracy.

In the early hours of Wednesday, December 18, 2024, one of the most extensive operations to date took place. For the first time in our country, and one of the few times at the European level, a source with a huge infrastructure for sharing pirated content, which was interconnected with many countries around the world, was identified and neutralized.

The infrastructure, which was based in Greece, was a “wholesale hub” for the distribution of pirated content to pirate networks in Ukraine, Morocco, Pakistan, France, the Netherlands and Germany.

In short, pirates sold bundles of channels to other pirates to then market to end users of illegal content.

According to information, the servers of this infrastructure distributed hundreds of thousands of movies, series and sports eventscausing huge financial losses to domestic and international pay TV providers.

Black Screens on Pirate Networks

The Cybercrime Prosecution operation appears to have caused a stir in the international piracy scene. Immediately after this infrastructure goes down, hacker networks that relied on it show black screens, demonstrating the complexity and interconnections of the circuit. Thousands of users of pirated subscriptions, who found “preferential” prices through illegal channels, are now faced with the loss of access to their favorite programs and of course with the authorities, after thousands of digital data have been found in the investigations. Authorities point out that hacking is not only illegal, but also puts users themselves at risk.

The High Prosecution Expertise

The success of the business is the result of a masterful business methodology. Cybercrime Prosecution combined technological capabilities with thorough operational investigation, crystallizing the profile of the criminal network.

The arrest of the ring’s alleged mastermind, a 48-year-old transit station master, highlights the fact that behind such rings can be everyday people with access to critical infrastructure. This operation demonstrates that Cybercrime Prosecution not only has the ability to analyze and detect digital traces, but also to carry out multifaceted actions leading to the disruption of complex networks.

This success exemplifies how the collaboration between technology and operational strategies can disrupt organized criminal networks. At the same time, it opens the debate about the importance of viewing content legally, as well as the need to raise public awareness about the consequences of piracy.

According to the official announcements of the Prosecution, the investigations found, among others:

• 11,000- euros
• 119 IPTV receivers,
• 27 hard drives,
• 6 computers,
• external storage medium (USB),
• 2 routers,
• 2 “switches” and
• 2 mobiles.