Skip to content
Welcome, thoughtbot's Giant Robots listeners!Start here
KillSec
AI-generated illustration
Organisation

KillSec

Ransomware group active since about 2024 whose leak site police seized in September 2026.

KillSec lost its ransomware leak site to police on 30 September 2026, along with five of its core servers and at least 110 terabytes of victim data it had stolen, in a ten-country raid run from Hamburg.

Last refreshed: 12 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic

Key Question

Can police stop a ransomware gang by seizing its leak site and servers?

Timeline for KillSec

#14 30 Sept

Lost its leak site and five core servers to police

Cybersecurity: Threats and Defences: Police seize KillSec ransomware leak site
View full timeline →

Background

KillSec is a ransomware and data-extortion group active since about 2024. Investigators link it to around 1,000 suspected attacks, about 500 of them successful, and say it got in through software flaws and weakly protected cloud storage. The group used a leak site to publish victims' stolen files and pressure them into paying.

The group lost that site on 30 September 2026. Operation KillSwitch, a raid by ten countries under Hamburg's State Criminal Police Office, backed by Europol and Eurojust, also took five of KillSec's core servers and at least 110 terabytes of its stolen haul. Suspects' homes were searched in Greece, Romania, Spain and the UK, eight in all, and police made three provisional arrests. Europol says the suspected administrator and main operator is a 16-year-old.

For KillSec, the raid hit infrastructure and people at once. A May 2026 Europol action, Operation Saffron, had taken 33 servers from First VPN, a service ransomware crews relied on, but named no arrest.

Common Questions
What happened to the KillSec ransomware group?
Police in Operation KillSwitch, led by Hamburg's State Criminal Police Office with Europol and Eurojust, took control of KillSec's leak site on 30 September 2026 and seized five core servers.Source: Europol
How many attacks is KillSec linked to?
Investigators link KillSec, active since about 2024, to around 1,000 suspected attacks, about 500 of them successful.Source: Europol
How did KillSec break into its victims?
Investigators say the group got in through software flaws and weakly protected cloud storage.Source: Europol
Where did police search in the KillSec operation?
Officers searched eight homes in Greece, Romania, Spain and the UK. Ten countries took part in the operation.Source: Europol
Source Material