Global law enforcement operation takes First VPN offline

Police seized First VPN in a global crackdown, exposed its cybercrime users, and shut down infrastructure tied to ransomware and data theft.

A major international law enforcement operation has taken First VPN offline, a service that had become a quiet staple for ransomware crews, data thieves, and other cybercriminals trying to hide in plain sight.

“The coordinated action took place between 19 and 20 May and targeted the infrastructure behind one of the most widely used VPN services in the cybercrime underground.” reads the press release published by Europol. “The gathered intelligence exposed thousands of users linked to the cybercrime ecosystem and generated operational leads connected to ransomware attacks, fraud schemes, and other serious offences worldwide.”

Authorities seized dozens of servers across 27 countries, arrested the administrator, and carried out a search in Ukraine, cutting off an infrastructure that had been used in a wide range of serious investigations.

The service marketed itself as a privacy-first VPN with no logging and no cooperation with law enforcement, which made it appealing not just to ordinary users but also to threat actors looking to mask their activity. That’s the uncomfortable part of the VPN story: the same tools that help people protect privacy on public Wi-Fi or work securely from home are also useful for criminals who want to conceal their origin, route traffic through different regions, and make attribution harder.

“For years, the service, known as ‘First VPN’, was promoted on Russian-speaking cybercrime forums as a trusted tool for remaining beyond the reach of law enforcement. It offered users anonymous payments, hidden infrastructure, and services designed specifically for criminal use.” continues the press release. “‘First VPN’ had become deeply embedded in the cybercrime ecosystem, appearing in almost every major cybercrime investigation supported by Europol in recent years. Criminals used it to conceal their identities and infrastructure while carrying out ransomware attacks, large-scale fraud, data theft, and other serious offences.”

Europol said the service name kept resurfacing in major cybercrime cases, and Eurojust confirmed that investigators had been building the case for years through a joint effort led by French and Dutch authorities. 

What seems to have made this case especially valuable for investigators is that they didn’t just shut the service down, they also got inside its infrastructure before it disappeared. That likely gave them access to user records, connection data, and other evidence that can be used to map criminal activity back to real people and devices.

Authorities dismantled cybercrime infrastructure, including 33 servers and a service based in Ukraine, and seized domains linked to the operation: 1vpns.com, 1vpns.net, 1vpns.org, plus associated onion sites. They also notified users directly and shared information on hundreds of accounts with international partners, which suggests this may lead to follow-on investigations well beyond the VPN itself.

The bigger lesson is simple: privacy tools are not the problem, but criminal operators often rely on the same infrastructure normal users trust. Once that infrastructure is compromised, dismantled, or logged, the illusion of anonymity can disappear very quickly.

“The operation has already generated significant operational results at Europol’s level:

• 21 Europol-supported investigations advanced through the intelligence obtained.”
• 83 intelligence packages disseminated;
• information linked to 506 users shared internationally;

“For years, cybercriminals saw this VPN service as a gateway to anonymity. They believed it would keep them beyond the reach of law enforcement. This operation proves them wrong. Taking it offline removes a critical layer of protection that criminals depended on to operate, communicate and evade law enforcement.” said Edvardas Šileris, Head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, First VPN)