PRESS RELEASE – The Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate identified the members of the online group “Greek Electronic Army”, which carried out attacks on the websites of public bodies and private companies
A regular procedure file was filed for the case against seven (7) individuals, one of whom was arrested in the context of the traffic stop
The Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate investigated a case of cyber attacks against the websites of public bodies and private companies and filed a regular procedure case against seven (7) individuals for illegal copying, use of confidential data and access to computer programs and data.
The investigation into the case began after discovered a page belonging to the "Greek Electronic Army" group on a well-known social networking website, with posts according to which members of the group carried out attacks against specific websites.
In particular, the website contained posts about cyber attacks that took place between 07-01 and 28-05-2015.
The above was brought to the attention of the Athens First Instance Prosecutor's Office and the Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate was ordered to conduct a preliminary examination to clarify the case.
As part of the preliminary investigation, a thorough police and online investigation of digital evidence and data, which revealed the involvement of a 17-year-old Greek national in the disputed online attacks.
In a search carried out on 11-06-2015, at the 17-year-old's home in an area of Attica, a computer hard drive was found and seized, on which the software for the relevant cyber attacks was stored.
After a months-long police and online investigation by the police officers of the Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate, it became possible to identify the other members who participated in the aforementioned online attacks.
More specifically, the following were identified as members of the online group:
- An 18-year-old Greek national, resident of Thessaloniki, whose home was searched on 18-01-2016, where two (2) internal hard drives containing the software from the relevant cyber attacks were found and seized.
- A 19-year-old Greek national, resident of Patras, whose home was searched on 18-01-2016, where two (2) internal hard drives containing the software from the relevant cyber attacks were found and seized.
- A 21-year-old Greek national, resident of Karditsa, whose home was searched on 18-01-2016, where an internal hard drive containing the software from the relevant cyber attacks was found and seized.
- A 50-year-old Greek national, resident of Didymoteicho, whose home was searched in his absence on 19-01-2016, where an internal hard drive was found and seized.
- A 36-year-old Greek national, who was arrested in the context of the traffic stop, because in a search carried out at his home in an area of Attica, on 19-01-2016, a sword, an air rifle, three internal hard drives and a laptop computer with stored files with user names, email addresses, as well as coded passwords were found and confiscated. In addition, (1,642) folders were found that corresponded to the names of Greek and foreign websites, which had been checked ("scanned") using software tools, with the aim of identifying their security gaps.
- An 18-year-old Greek national, resident of Athens, whose home was searched on 27-01-2016, where an internal hard drive was found and seized, storing the software from the relevant cyber attacks.
The seized digital evidence will be sent to the Criminal Investigations for further laboratory tests.
The case file, which was prepared for the case, will be submitted to the Athens First Instance Prosecutor's Office.
