Seizure concerns the confiscation or disruption of devices, systems, or data, with implications for digital evidence, service access, and incident response.
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Background for this topic.
Seizure is the lawful taking or securing of devices, servers, domain names, accounts, cryptocurrency, or stored digital data by an authorized authority for an investigation or legal proceeding. In information-security reporting, the term usually concerns the acquisition of digital infrastructure or evidence, not a seizure-related medical event. Authorities may take physical equipment, redirect or disable online services, or obtain data from a provider under applicable legal process.
The security challenge is preserving evidence without changing it: investigators may document the chain of custody, isolate systems, and use forensic copies while protecting originals from alteration. Live systems can contain volatile evidence, while encryption, remote access, cloud tenancy, and deleted data complicate collection. Seized infrastructure may also contain unrelated customer or employee information, creating privacy and access-control obligations. For defenders, a seizure can interrupt services and signal an investigation; maintaining accurate asset ownership records, logs, backups, and documented legal or incident-response contacts helps establish what systems and data are affected.
Weekly headline count for the current query.
The U.S. Justice Department's Criminal Division has seized nearly 400 web domains used for illegally streaming matches at the FIFA World Cup. [...]
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that it has seized the CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com websites, which allegedly hosted nonconsensual AI-generated nude images and videos of women, in what appears to be the first publicly announced domain seizure under the TAKE IT DOWN Act. [...]
Financial crime investigators in the Netherlands (FIOD) arrested two men and seized 800 servers linked to a web hosting company that enabled cyberattacks, interference operations, and disinformation campaigns. [...]
More than 200 individuals were arrested for cybercrime activities during INTERPOL's Operation Ramz, which focused on the Middle East and North Africa. [...]
The FBI has seized two websites used by the Handala hacktivist group after the threat actors conducted a destructive cyberattack on medical technology giant Stryker that wiped approximately 80,000 devices. [...]
The FBI has seized the LeakBase cybercrime forum, a major online forum used by cybercriminals buy and sell hacking tools and stolen data. [...]
The FBI has seized the notorious RAMP cybercrime forum, a platform used to advertise a wide range of malware and hacking services, and one of the few remaining forums that openly allowed the promotion of ransomware operations. [...]
The U.S. government has seized the 'web3adspanels.org' domain and the associated database used by cybercriminals to host bank login credentials stolen in account takeover attacks. [...]
Law enforcement has seized the servers and domains of the E-Note cryptocurrency exchange, allegedly used by cybercriminal groups to launder more than $70 million. [...]
The police in the Netherlands have seized around 250 physical servers powering a bulletproof hosting service in the country used exclusively by cybercriminals for providing complete anonymity. [...]
The U.S. Department of Justice has seized $15 billion in bitcoin from the leader of Prince Group, a criminal organization that stole billions of dollars from victims in the United States through cryptocurrency investment scams, also known as romance baiting or pig butchering. [...]
The Metropolitan Police has secured a conviction in what is believed to be the world's largest cryptocurrency seizure, valued at more than £5.5 billion ($7.3 billion). [...]
In a five-month joint operation led by Interpol, law enforcement agencies have seized more than $439 million in cash and cryptocurrency linked to cyber-enabled financial crimes that impacted thousands of victims worldwide. [...]
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has shut down the TradeOgre cryptocurrency exchange and seized more than $40 million believed to originate from criminal activities. [...]
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the seizure of over $2,800,000 in cryptocurrency from alleged ransomware operator Ianis Aleksandrovich Antropenko. [...]
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) seized cryptocurrency and digital assets worth $1,091,453 at the time of confiscation, on January 9, 2024, from the BlackSuit ransomware gang. [...]
FBI Dallas has seized almost 23 Bitcoins from a cryptocurrency address belonging to a Chaos ransomware member that is linked to cyberattacks and extortion payments from Texas companies. [...]
The Lumma infostealer malware operation is gradually resuming activities following a massive law enforcement operation in May, which resulted in the seizure of 2,300 domains and parts of its infrastructure. [...]
The U.S. Department of Justice has seized more than $225 million in cryptocurrency linked to investment fraud and money laundering operations, the largest crypto seizure in the history of the U.S. Secret Service. [...]
Law enforcement authorities from six countries took down the Archetyp Market, an infamous darknet drug marketplace that has been operating since May 2020. [...]