Home > Morocco > Moroccan Hacker "Dr Hex" Arrested in International Cybercrime Sting
Moroccan Hacker "Dr Hex" Arrested in International Cybercrime Sting
Saturday 10 July 2021, by
Interpol’s Cybercrime Directorate, in close collaboration with Group-IB and the Moroccan police, succeeded in arresting the famous hacker known as "Dr Hex" as part of Operation "Lyrebird". The nationality of the cybercriminal is now known.
It took two years of investigation for the Moroccan police to succeed in arresting last May, based on data on his cybercrimes provided by Group-IB, the famous hacker "Dr Hex", a Moroccan citizen, Interpol said in a publication on its website. He would be responsible for multiple attacks, notably against French telecommunications companies, as well as the main banks in the country and multinational companies. The accused is still under investigation. He is accused of having targeted thousands of unsuspecting victims over several years through global phishing, fraud and credit card fraud activities, carding.
He is also accused of having degraded many websites by modifying their appearance and content, and of targeting Francophone communication companies, several banks and multinational companies with malware campaigns. In total, more than 130 web pages were degraded during the period 2009-2018 by the Moroccan hacker. He managed five email accounts, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Skype accounts, and has six nicknames. According to the Group-IB Threat Intelligence team, the suspect has been involved in cybercrime since 2009.
The extraction of a phishing kit (a tool used to create phishing web pages) allowed the Group-IB team to initiate the investigations. "Group-IB analysts also found the cybercriminal’s posts on several popular sites intended for the trade of malware, indicating his involvement in malware development," adds the global threat hunting and cyber intelligence company.
"This is a significant success against a suspect accused of targeting unsuspecting individuals and businesses in multiple regions for years, and the case highlights the threat posed by cybercrime worldwide." Stephen Kavanagh, Interpol’s Executive Director of Police Services, also stated: "The arrest of this suspect is due to exceptional international investigative work and new modes of collaboration both with the Moroccan police and our vital private sector partners such as Group-IB," he added.