Cybercrime: NRW succeeds in striking Qilin hackers - Russian arrested

North Rhine-Westphalia's investigators have succeeded in striking a blow against the globally active Russian hacker group "Qilin". “We caught one of the leading figures; with the help of the Japanese police we were able to arrest the 28-year-old Russian in Tokyo in May,” said North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU). The man was transferred to Germany last Friday. This is “a historic success” against the hacker group.

The man wanted to go on vacation to Japan in May and is now in a German prison: “Instead of sushi, there is now cheesecake in a German prison,” said Reul.

Since 2024, the hacker group has blackmailed almost 4,000 companies worldwide. In Germany there were 150, including 30 in North Rhine-Westphalia. “The number of unreported cases is probably even higher.” The ransom demands amounted to almost three billion US dollars, and more than 140 million dollars had been paid, said Reul. Qilin is one of the most active and ruthless criminal gangs in the world.

Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) reported on the patient, detailed work with which the German investigators had discovered the Russian hacker. Investigators from the State Criminal Police Office and the Cybercrime Central and Contact Center (ZAC) infiltrated the hacker group and observed them for months.

Countless digital traces were followed, said Limbach. “In the end there was a name behind the pseudonym.” The two ministers thanked Japan for extraditing the Russian hacker to Germany, even though there is no extradition agreement. This shows that the global fight against cybercrime is working. The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” had previously reported on the success of the investigation.