The police only had one nickname: Lacoste, like the crocodile brand. According to an investigation by the French authorities, behind this pseudonym is a Spanish hacker who, from his centrally located apartment in Madrid, blackmailed companies in his country worth 7,000 euros per month and demanded a ransom in return for giving them access to theirs again databases granted. , which he would have previously sabotaged. This is the version of the French police, which accuses him of causing damage to 26 companies in the neighboring country amounting to more than two million euros, if one takes into account the losses caused by a lack of activity, the purchase of computer programs and the payment of the rescue. The defense claims that the result of the cyberattacks is much lower than what the agents claimed and that the Spaniard’s involvement in the extortion plot has not even been proven. A French judge has released him temporarily until the investigation is completed.
It all started in July 2021 with a complaint from a boiler sales and installation company. The company, based a few kilometers from Bordeaux, claimed that someone had encrypted its databases and left it a cyber message asking it to pay a ransom. In real life, this meant that they had kidnapped the raw materials that the company worked with every day and left a note demanding money in exchange for their return. From that date until February 2022, French authorities identified 25 additional attacks of this type that came from the same source. At least two of the companies paid ransoms, one for the boilers and one for the installation of heating and ventilation systems, but that transaction did not help them recover their data.
How he behaved
The method this extortion network uses to protect victims’ data is Babuk ransomware, a virus that is introduced into systems via phishing emails (which simulate a real page and lead to a fake page) or by searching for vulnerabilities in outdated ones Looking for computer tools. Once Babuk is running on the victim’s system, it searches for and encrypts important files using cryptographic algorithms. The preferred victims of cybercriminals using this method are medium-sized companies, which, although they have sufficient amounts of computerized data, do not have as sophisticated protection systems as those of large companies.
Authorities’ investigation led to Lacoste, a 29-year-old man residing in Spain. French investigators discovered that the ransom was collected in Bitcoin (virtual currency) and also found transactions between the extorted companies and a virtual wallet in the defendant’s name, but could only prove a payment of 600 euros. The agents also included as evidence several photos of the hacker with wads of cash, luxury cars and the rental agreement for luxury apartments in Madrid. The suspected hacker is accused of criminal organization, money laundering, fraud and extortion.
French prosecutors ordered the Spaniard’s arrest in July, and in August the National Court accepted his surrender to the French justice system. The proceedings were halted while awaiting the decision on an appeal from his defense by lawyer Juango Ospina. Ultimately, the lawyer negotiated a voluntary surrender instead of a forced surrender, which took place last week. After testifying for five hours, the prosecution requested his detention and the judge approved it.
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However, an instrument of the French judiciary allows this decision to be appealed at this moment before a guaranteed judge, a judge who has nothing whatsoever to do with the case and who listens to the prosecution and the defense from the ground up. The Spaniard’s lawyer claimed that the police investigation was based on “guesses” and that the sum defrauded was well under two million euros. This new judge decided to release the Spaniard after finding no grounds for a flight risk and noting that there had been no new criminal activity in recent months.