Police overthrow pirated app that stole data and cell phone connection in Europe

[Chewy_fox]

Spanish police and Europol dismantled the operation of an application called Mobdro that would have offered protected content , including football matches, without acquiring the broadcast rights.

Mobdro users report problems using the app since the beginning of February. The police action explains the reason for the service interruption.

Investigators claim that the app has been downloaded more than 100 million times and that the defendants made a profit of 5 million euros (about R $ 33 million), although it was not listed on Google Play, the Android app store.

The authorities carried out search and seizure warrants, brought down websites and servers in Portugal and the Czech Republic , arrested four people and froze bank accounts linked to the activity.

The investigation began in 2018 and was supported by reports from the English Premier League, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) and the Spanish League.

According to the authorities, the operation was mainly earning from advertising and selling user data for advertising purposes.

However, the police have also identified another source of revenue: the sale of users' personal data and connections.

The application could be installed on the cell phone, but it was not uncommon to use the service on devices such as the "set-top box", or "TV box" - devices connected to any TV device for transmitting content via the Internet.

Whatever the device, it could "hand over" the connection to another company linked to cyber attacks and zombie networks , according to Europol.

Mobdro did not hide the practice. The terms of service stated that users could disable ads in exchange for a connection to the Luminati network.

Luminati sells intermediary access, so that a person on the web can "bypass" the connection route through other people's devices.

Intermediate access by cell phones is one of the most expensive ones offered. Luminati charges US $ 15 (about R $ 80) for each gigabyte intermediated by IPs of mobile network connections, such as 3G or 4G.

The company promotes the service as a way to obtain additional IP addresses and circumvent access restrictions for scraping data. Without these additional IP addresses, scraping is blocked by online services, which do not allow for repeated requests.

Luminati also says that its service can be used to obtain regional prices and test access to websites from anywhere in the world, but says it only allows "ethical" uses and protects users' privacy. The company claims to have 1.3 million IPs in Brazil.

The blog contacted Luminati to ask if the company collaborated with Europol's investigations and how many of those Brazilian IP addresses are linked to the use of Mobdro.

Or Lenchner, CEO of Luminati, said that the company was not involved in the investigations and that it only learned of the case through the press.

He pointed out that the company's component embedded in the application (the "SDK") is unrelated to the infractions pointed out by the authorities.

"We have zero tolerance for illegal activities. When we learned that Mobdro, a producer that was using our commercial SDK, was the target of an investigation by law enforcement for infringing copyright, we suspended their right to use our SDK," said the executive.

Lenchner also pointed out that Luminati users are protected by strict rules and that the company provides services to large companies and academic institutions, and that the funding provided by the company allows users to opt out of advertising on sponsored applications.

The company did not say how many of the IP addresses in Brazil were linked to the use of Mobdro.

In its statement on the case, Europol did not specify whether the company linked to the cyber attacks is Luminati.

A 2019 survey conducted by Digital Citizens Alliance and Dark Wolfe Consulting had already pointed out the use of Mobdro to operate pirated streaming devices and that the app was programmed to reveal users' Wi-Fi name and password, exposing the network to attacks.

In official statements, app operators denied these allegations.

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