Europol dismantles ‘First VPN’, a cybercriminal network used by ransomware groups to conceal attacks, seizing 33 servers across 27 countries, identifying 506 users, and exposing 21 linked investigations 

For years, “First VPN” was promoted on Russian-language cybercrime forums as a trusted tool for evading law enforcement, offering anonymous payments, concealed infrastructure, and services tailored specifically for criminal use. Deeply embedded in the cybercrime ecosystem and frequently appearing in major Europol-supported investigations, it was widely used by offenders to hide their identities and operations while carrying out ransomware attacks, large-scale fraud, data theft, and other serious cybercrimes…