Romanian authorities have cracked down on a criminal group responsible for attacks on ATMs across Europe through the use of malicious software.

The operation, one of the first in Europe against this type of cybercrime, was conducted in Romania and Moldova by Romanian law enforcement authorities with assistance from Europol and Eurojust, Europol said in a press release on Thursday.

Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) supported police forces across Europe in their efforts to identify the suspects by hosting a number of international operational meetings and analysing intelligence.

Eight people have been arrested in the course of the transnational investigation.  

The criminal group, composed of Romanian and Moldovan nationals, used Tyupkin ATM malware which allowed the attackers to manipulate ATMs across Europe and illegally empty ATM cash cassettes, causing substantial losses to the ATM industry.

Europol explained that “the criminal group was involved in large scale ATM "Jackpotting" – a term which “refers to the use of a Trojan horse, physically launched via an executable file in order to target an ATM, thus allowing the attackers to empty the ATM cash cassettes via direct manipulation, using the ATM PIN pad to submit commands to the Trojan.”

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