Security News > 2021 > June > Authorities Seize DoubleVPN Service Used by Cybercriminals
A coordinated international law enforcement operation resulted in the takedown of a VPN service called DoubleVPN for providing a safe haven for cybercriminals to cover their tracks.
"Law enforcement gained access to the servers of DoubleVPN and seized personal information, logs and statistics kept by DoubleVPN about all of its customers. DoubleVPN's owners failed to provide the services they promised."
DoubleVPN is said to have been heavily advertised on both Russian and English-speaking underground cybercrime forums as a means to mask the location and identities of ransomware operators and phishing fraudsters.
Prior to its takedown, DoubleVPN's site also claimed the service kept no logs or statistics on its users, stating "We don't spy on our clients" and that "We can speak responsibly that there is no logging client activity on our servers."
Tuesday's incident isn't the first time a VPN service has been caught in the crosshairs of law enforcement.
In December 2020, Europol and agencies from the Netherlands, U.S., Germany, Switzerland, and France took down Safe-Inet, a popular virtual private network service that offered bulletproof hosting services to facilitate criminal activity.