Global Europol Attack Knocks Over 373,000 Dark Sites Offline

• Europol’s “Operation Alice” dismantles massive dark web fraud network
• 373,000 websites shut down, 105 servers seized, operator identified
• 440 customers investigated for attempting to purchase CSAM; involved global agencies

Earlier this month, Europol led a global operation against a major cybercrime network. It resulted in the takedown of hundreds of thousands of dark web sites, the seizure of more than a hundred servers and other hardware, and the identification of hundreds of cybercriminals and cybercrime facilitators.

For the past seven years (since 2019), a Chinese person operated a network of dark sites called “Alice with Violence CP”. This network offered child sexual abuse (CSAM) and cybercrime-as-a-service (CaaS) materials to its customers through a vast network of more than 373,000 websites.