Successful Raid against Illegal Internet Key Sharing (IKS) Network in Germany.
19-07-2012


Last Tuesday, more than 120 German law enforcement officers from several regional command posts were dispatched to raid a total of 23 locations in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.

26 Suspects, aged from 17 to 62, are being accused of data theft, organized cybercrime, commercial resale of copyrighted material, organized fraud, exposing trade secrets and drug trafficking.

The Swiss company Nagravision carried out a large investigation and filed a complaint against the owner of this German IKS network. The investigation was picked up by the cybercrime task force of the Göttingen Police with the help of technicians from Nagravision and Pay TV provider Sky Germany.

The economic loss to Sky Germany and Nagravision is estimated to exceed 150’000 USD.

So far, a 50 year old male from Leese (Nienburg/Weser region) is being suspected of having sold IKS subscriptions, including preconfigured Set Top Boxes, via his web shop to over 1300 people. In typical underground fashion, payments were made anonymously via payment systems like UKash, PaySafeCard, Yuna-Card, Kalixa-Card and Neteller.

The 38 year old owner of a satellite shop in Delmenhorst is also being suspected of selling subscriptions and Set Top Boxes linked to this IKS network.

The related web servers were made available to the criminal conspirators by a 26 year old suspect from Iserlohn.

Evidence indicates that the individual from Iserlohn is the leader of 23 other identified suspects, which were not only linked to cybercrime, but also to organized fraud and organized drug trafficking through underground internet forums.

During the raids, high-end electronic goods, computer hardware, set top boxes and smart cards were secured. Additionally , more than 22 pou$$$ of hashish and other illegal drugs were seized. If convicted, the suspects face an incarceration time of at least 5 years.

Investigations are ongoing. In particular, it is being debated whether the identified IKS network end-users are to be prosecuted.







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