OSAKA (TR) – Japanese authorities have detained a 28-year-old Russian national in Osaka City and extradited him to Germany for his alleged role as a core member of the notorious cybercrime syndicate Qilin, reports TBS News (Oct. 6).
The Qilin group is infamous for launching a relentless wave of ransomware attacks against major corporations worldwide, including Japanese beverage giant Asahi Group Holdings.
According to investigative sources, the unnamed Russian suspect was wanted by German authorities for orchestrating a cyberattack on a German logistics company in September 2022. He is accused of illegally accessing and encrypting the company’s corporate data, subsequently extorting cryptocurrency worth approximately 26 million yen in ransom.
Investigative sources indicate that German authorities had been seeking the whereabouts of the Russian over an incident that resulted in damage to a German company.
Japanese investigators tracked down and detained the hacker in Osaka in May of this year. He has since been officially handed over to German custody to face prosecution.
