According to U.S. government officials, on Wednesday, Genesis Market was seized as part of a larger fight against illicit state-backed cybercrime. The FBI and the Justice Department led a combined operation with other international authorities on Tuesday in the fight against cybercrime. On the Russian-linked marketplace, tens of millions of hacked accounts were sold to bad actors around the world.
Why it matters: The effort, named Operation Cookie Monster, “Today’s takedown of Genesis, is “a demonstration of the FBI’s commitment to disrupting and dismantling key services used by criminals to facilitate cybercrime,” according to FBI Director Christopher Wray. This effort signified an escalation of pressure on state-backed cybercrime.
- Genesis’ domain names were taken down through the cooperation of four hundred law enforcement operations, including 208 searches, which took place in more than a dozen different countries.
- The U.S. Treasury said it believes Genesis is located in Russia, but their user base is spread across dozens of countries, emphasizing that international cooperation was critical.
- “The United States, along with our international partners, will not allow illicit marketplaces to operate with impunity,” Brian E. Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a release.
