The police in the Netherlands have seized around 250 physical servers powering a bulletproof hosting service in the country used exclusively by cybercriminals for providing complete anonymity.
Politie, the police force in the Netherlands, did not name the service but said that it has been used for illicit activities since 2022, and has emerged in more than 80 cybercrime investigations, both domestic and abroad.
Bulletproof hosting providers are companies that intentionally ignore abuse reports and refuse to comply with content takedowns requests from law enforcement while protecting their customers by not enforcing Know Your Customer policies.
Cybercriminals that typically use them are ransomware operators, malware distributors, phishing actors, and spammers, as well as money laundering services that get to remain anonymous by paying in difficult-to-trace cryptocurrency.
Thousands of virtual servers seized
The Dutch police note that the hosting company advertised complete anonymity for users and no cooperation with law enforcement.
The investigation showed that the company facilitated ransomware attacks, botnet operations, phishing campaigns, and even the distribution of child abuse content.
Last week’s police operation confiscated hundreds of physical and thousands of virtual servers.
"During the operation on 12 November, the infrastructure was seized. In total, it involves around 250 physical servers located in data centers in The Hague and Zoetermeer," reads Politie’s announcement.
Dutch police seizes about 250 servers from a bullet proof service provider
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