A joint law enforcement operation involving the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation and various national police forces has taken down three virtual private network services and associated web hosting operations used by cybercriminals.

The takedown, dubbed “Operation Nova,” resulted in the seizure of domain names and server infrastructure used by insorg.org, inet.com and safe-inet.net. All three offered VPN and proxy services along with “bulletproof hosting.”

That’s a form of web hosting that offers leniency in terms of the material hosted and is regularly used for illegal activity such as online gambling and illegal pornography sites. The services are designed to allow customers to operate while evading detection by law enforcement.

In the case of safe-inet, the bulletproof hosting was used by “the world’s foremost cybercriminals,” including operators responsible for ransomware and other forms of serious cybercrime, Europol said today. The VPN offered by safe-inet is said to have been sold at a high price to the criminal underworld as one of the best tools available to avoid law enforcement interception, complete with five layers of anonymous VPN connections.

Along with ransomware operations, Bleeping Computer reported, the three seized services were also providing support for the infamous Magecart skimming gang responsible for dozen of attacks. Magecart attacks first emerged in 2018 with an attack on British Airways Plc., spreading to Newegg Inc., the Infowars Store, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., Macy’s Inc., Sweaty Betty and Oxo International Ltd.

“The investigation carried out by our cybercrime specialists has resulted in such a success thanks to the excellent international cooperation with partners worldwide,”said Udo Vogel, the head of Reutlingen Police. “The results show that law enforcement authorities are equally as well-connected as criminals. ”

The takedown of the three services is a positive, but it’s a small speed hump for global cybercriminals since there’s no shortage of alternative VPN and bulletproof hosting providers offering their services. That said, the information gathered from the operation could potentially lead to further investigation into some of the customers who were using these services and ultimately their arrests.

Image: Insorg