August 7: FBI Field Office in Milwaukee Played Key Role in Taking Down Cyber Crooks Worldwide Which Involved 1.5M Victims

–submitted by Sharyn Alden

Charles Tubbs, fellow Rotarian, expert in homeland security and policing, introduced FBI Special Agent Amanda Knutson as the Rotary Club of Madison speaker, August 7.

Tubbs said homeland security has been preparing for what could be the next 911, but now it might be power grid disruptions or cybersecurity crimes.

Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Amanda Knutson runs Cyber Task Force and the Computer Analysis Response Team at the Milwaukee FBI Field Office. She said Genesis market crooks had accessed millions of “fingerprints” (passwords, banking information, and other sensitive identification) and they were selling the information on the dark web.

Genesis had 1.15 million bots for sale for as little as $10 each. Each bot contained about 80 million personal accounts. Users received an invitation from Genesis before buying the information.

How do you catch crooks on a global scale?  The plan was coordinated with FBI agents, police and Europol worldwide, and was successful due to one Milwaukee case agent’s unique approach.

Instead of going after the crooks, they went after the users.

The takedown, called “Operation Cookie Monster,” involved 44 FBI field offices in 16 countries and swiftly moved around the world, seizing domains, and making arrests, in one 24-hour period on April 4, 2023.