Brazil’s law enforcement groups had commenced the fourth wave of Operation 404, which aimed to take down malicious websites and application piracy platforms. The country’s anti-piracy movement had enabled the Brazilian authorities to arrest several threat actors involved in the cybercrimes.
About 226 websites and 461 pirated apps had been shut down and blocked under Operation 404, made possible by the collective effort of the US and Brazil’s law enforcement groups.
Six malicious website domains had been seized by the US DoJ and Homeland Security Investigations, which includes SIMP3[.]com, Mp3Teca[.]ws, flowactivo[.]co, Corourbanos[.]com, Pautamp3[.]com, and Corourbano[.]com. These domains are said to have been distributing illegal downloads and copyrighted music in America.
Alongside the hundreds of websites and pirated apps the authorities had seized, the officials blocked about 15 social media accounts allegedly run by the threat actors. The law enforcement agencies’ joint efforts also led them to arrest six individuals that operated the said campaigns.
Upon accessing the seized malicious sites, a message from the authorities will be shown on the screen, notifying visitors about the websites being taken down due to conducting illegal operations.
Operation 404 was enforced by the Brazilian law enforcement agencies in 2019 to conduct an extensive anti-piracy movement.
Over time, the Brazilian authorities had teamed up with other US and UK agencies to extend their seizure objectives to a wider scope, ensuing more campaign waves. As of now, the operation has successfully dismantled hundreds of piracy websites and illegal streaming platforms.
The authorities have never published the names of the arrested suspects or the seized sites, but some sources said that those websites had gained over ten million downloads from users and are related to illegal music downloaders.
In related news, the currently vague concept of ‘metaverse’ was said to have taken place by Operation 404. This event allowed the authorities to remove four illegal broadcast channels and deactivate 90 pirated videos. It is still unknown how the law enforcement groups had entered the metaverse that allowed them to extend the campaign and takedown more malicious sites.
