FBI leads action to shut down Virtualine bulletproof service linked to major cybercrime activity

Date:
Thu, 29 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Description:
Virtualine was hosting illegal forums and helping launder stolen cryptocurrency.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter FBI and international partners seized infrastructure tied to Virtualine, a hosting provider allegedly
serving cybercriminals Authorities say the service facilitated phishing, ransomware operations, illicit crypto activity, and other crimes
Investigators seized servers and customer data, though no arrests have been announced so far The FBI has announced it seized the website of Virtualine, a bulletproof hosting service that allegedly allowed child pornography, laundered stolen and extorted crypto, and facilitated a wide range of other criminal activities.

The operation was carried out in partnership with German and Dutch authorities, as well as multiple private companies, with police raiding a
data center in Limburg to seize dozens of physical servers that also hosted hundreds of virtual servers. As a result, they gained access to information about more than 3,000 of Virtualines customers, it was said. The police are currently taking follow-up actions towards these users, the Dutch police
said, although its difficult to say how valuable the information will be, since most bulletproof hosting providers dont ask for private data, and criminals are good at hiding it, as well. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Bulletproof hosting Every website, including hacking forums, criminal service providers, even fraudulent landing pages, needs a server
that hosts it. Hosting providers renting out these servers are generally compliant with law enforcement agencies, so when the police requests a takedown or files a complaint, most of them comply. However, there is a
subset of hosting providers, colloquially called bulletproof hosting, which are unusually resistant to pressure from the authorities.

It doesnt mean all of them are inherently illegal or malicious. There are cases where such services are necessary - in countries with strong
censorship, or where website owners want to protect their identities. You may like Microsoft, Google took down $66 million cybercrime marketplace that sold virtual machines with free software NightmareStresser group responsible for thousands of DDOS attacks has domains seized in major operation 'What appears to be a simple scam message is often the visible end of a much larger transnational cybercriminal operation': Microsoft leads global takedown of phishing network which sent over a billion messages

In this case, however, Virtualine was openly criminal, with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) saying it advertised its services to criminals on cybercrime forums saying, on at least one occasion, You can use Virtualine for all illegal/black hat activities (including phis[h]ing, carding, email spam, port scanning and all others) except for child contents and terrorism activities.

The company took it a step further. In March 2026, it introduced an
additional protection plan that offers customers who receive takedown
requests another shell company not affiliated with Virtualine, after which
the server is reactivated. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features
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Interestingly enough, Virtualine said it did not accept child porn or terrorism content, but according to the DOJ - did exactly the opposite.

One of its clients created a forum that allowed users to post and sell access to nude, sexually suggestive, and/or sexually explicit images and videos of minors and adults, while also promoting a hack-for-hire service that broke into peoples accounts and stole their explicit photos and videos. Virtualine was even notified about it by law enforcement agencies from Germany, Canada, and Australia, but decided to ignore the warnings and continue hosting the client.

At the same time, Virtualines customers were allowed to pay in Bitcoin, offering an unhosted bitcoin address that allowed customers to direct pay without concern their funds would be flagged as illicit. Citing Chainalysis data, BleepingComputer said the companys wallet was seen receiving funds from ransomware operations, infostealers, Russian-language cybercrime forums, and more. What to read next Microsoft helped shut down an App Store for criminals linked to over a billion malicious messages Police take down dangerous
KillSec ransomware gang and find out it's being run by a teenager Microsoft takes down AI-boosted phishing tool that hit 12,000 accounts

Virtualine then laundered those proceeds to conceal their origin, the blockchain company added. Piercing the kevlar Besides confiscating the
servers and the data, the main website - virtualine.net - was defaced and now shows the usual FBI this website has been seized message. Unfortunately, no arrests have been made, which means the service will most likely continue operating.

According to BleepingComputer , it is partially online but its network prefixes currently have very low routing visibility, which could mean that much of its infrastructure was pulled offline.

Usually, disruptions such as this one are only temporary, and it wont take long before they are remedied and the service becomes fully operational
again. The best antivirus for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/fbi-leads-action-to-shut-down-virtualin e-bulletproof-service-linked-to-major-cybercrime-activity


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