Spanish police arrest 16-year old leader of hacker group in Europe-wide probe

Spanish police said they arrested a 16-year-old suspected to be the main operator of the hacker group KillSec as part of a Europe-wide probe into roughly 1,000 ransomware attacks over two years. The suspect, arrested in Alicante, is Romanian, Spanish police said. Europol spokespersons said he is suspected to be the “administrator” of KillSec. Authorities also arrested two other people in their twenties—one in Britain and another in Romania. A British arrest triggered an extradition request from Puerto Rico, the spokesperson added. A fourth person, identified as a developer who turned 18 in August and was a minor when some of the alleged offenses occurred, was identified but not arrested. Europol said KillSec exploited software vulnerabilities and poorly secured access points, particularly to cloud storage, and then threatened victims with data publication unless ransoms were paid.