The German authorities announced today Monday that identified the main members of an international hacker network linked to Russia, and believed to have targeted more than 600 companies and organizations worldwide.

The major operation was carried out in cooperation with the US Federal Police (FBI) and Europol.

This network is believed to be responsible for a major attack in the UK healthcare system in 2017 but also other, smaller attacks against companies and organizations around the world. In Germany, its victims included Dusseldorf University Hospital and the media group Funke, in 2020.

After years of investigations, police last week carried out raids in Germany and Ukraine, according to a statement from the North Rhine-Westphalia judicial police, which was investigating the case. International arrest warrants have been issued for three suspects allegedly with “ties to Russia”.

Police authorities also participated in the investigations Ukraine and the Netherlands.

The network, which used various aliases such as Indrik Spider or DoppelSpider, is accused of “digital blackmail” and “sabotage of electronic systems”. He infected his victims’ computers with a ransomware with the aim of extorting significant sums of money.

The case demonstrates “the international nature of cyberattacks, their perpetrators and their victims,” ​​said Markus Hartmann, head of the German police’s cybercrime division. “But the success of our business also proves that we, the forces of order, are also capable of acting on an international level,” he added.

In recent months many German websites, including those of airlines, e.ghave received similar attacks for which authorities believe Russian hacker groups are responsible. Such attacks were also recorded in the past, in 2015 against the Bundestag and against the office of former Chancellor Angela Merkel.