Interpol-led operation finds nearly 9,000 infected servers in SE Asia

SINGAPORE - An anti-cybercrime operation by Interpol and investigators from seven southeast Asian nations revealed nearly 9,000 malware-laden servers and hundreds of compromised websites in the Asean region, Interpol said on Monday.

Various types of malware, such as that targeting financial institutions, spreading ransomware, launching Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and distributing spam were among the threats posed by the infected servers, the operation showed.

"This operation helped participants identify and address various types of cybercrime which had not previously been tackled in their countries," said Francis Chan, head of the Hong Kong Police Force's cybercrime unit and chairman of Interpol's Eurasian cybercrime working group.

Experts from seven private firms also participated in the operation run out of the Singapore-based Interpol Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI), with China providing some cyber intelligence, the international police body said on its website.

DDoS attacks have always been among the most common on the internet, making use of hijacked and virus-infected computers to target websites until they can no longer cope with the scale of data requested.

The operation also identified nearly 270 websites infected with a malware code, among them several government websites that may have contained citizens' personal data, Interpol added.

The effort follows a breach this year at Singapore's Ministry of Defence, when personal details of 850 national servicemen and staff were stolen in what the Defence Ministry described as a "targeted and carefully planned" attack.