Qilin ransomware gang core member arrested in Japan and extradited to Germany, involved in extorting approximately $165,000 in Bitcoin

Odaily News: A 28-year-old Russian national identified as a core member of the globally notorious ransomware gang Qilin was arrested in Japan and lawfully extradited to Germany on October 2. Reports state that the man is suspected of illegally breaching a German logistics company's systems in September 2024, encrypting its data, and demanding and extorting approximately $165,000 (about 26 million yen) in Bitcoin. Investigations show that within the Qilin criminal network, he was responsible for building attack systems and received a proportional cut of the ransom payments collected by various affiliate execution teams.

Japanese police took him into custody in late May of this year while he was traveling in Osaka, and he was subsequently handed over to German authorities after the Tokyo High Court ruled that the conditions for extradition were met. Qilin operates on a "ransomware-as-a-service" (RaaS) model and previously claimed responsibility in 2025 for a cyberattack on Japan's Asahi Group. (Nada News)