Cybersecurity company Fortinet's threat intelligence and research organisation FortiGuard Labs has provided evidentiary support to global policing collaboration organisation Interpol and African member countries as part of the Africa Cyber Surge Operation (ACSO) to help detect, investigate and disrupt cybercrime.

This was achieved through coordinated law enforcement activities using Interpol platforms, tools and channels in close cooperation with the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (Afripol).

“Sharing threat intelligence and working with other threat intelligence organisations improves protections for customers and enhances the effectiveness of the entire cybersecurity industry,” Fortinet says.

The successful ASCO and transfer of knowledge to multiple law enforcement agencies in the African region is the result of continued threat information sharing and trusted cooperation between Interpol, FortiGuard Labs, and other Interpol private partners.

FortiGuard Labs provided actionable threat intelligence over a six-month period, which consisted of botnet, command and control (C2), and malware infrastructure research, including C2 and malware and botnet victims located within the African continent.

“The ACSO, launched in July 2022, has brought together law enforcement officials from 27 countries, working together for almost four months on actionable intelligence provided by Interpol private partners,” says Interpol Cybercrime Directorate director Craig Jones.

“This intelligence focused on opportunities to prevent, detect, investigate and disrupt cybercrime through coordinated law enforcement activities using Interpol platforms, tools and channels.

“This operation focused on cybercriminals and compromised network infrastructure in Africa, allowing member countries to identify more than 1 000 malicious Internet Protocol addresses, Dark Web markets and individual threat actors, enhancing cooperation between Interpol, Afripol and the member countries, and contributing to connecting policing for a safer world,” he highlights.

The ACSO is a multinational cybercrime suppression operation focused on identifying cybercriminals and compromised infrastructure in the African region. The Interpol Cybercrime Directorate and Interpol Support Programme for the African Union collaborated with Afripol and 27 Interpol member countries to leverage this intelligence and combat the growing threat of cybercrime across the continent, Fortinet says.

“The ACSO is a shining example of how shared threat intelligence on threat actors and joint operations across trusted partners can increase the cyber resilience of an entire region,” said FortiGuard Labs Global Threat Intelligence chief security strategist and VP Derek Manky.

“It also shows how valuable cybersecurity training and education is to help close the cyberskills gap and effectively disrupt cybercrime at scale. We will continue to work with our private and public sector partners such as Interpol around the world to help make our digital world a safer place,” he notes.

Fortinet has been an active member of the Global Cybercrime Expert Group and trusted partner to Interpol dating back to 2015. It became an Interpol Gateway partner in 2018. This ongoing collaboration has resulted in greater threat intelligence standards and protocols across the industry as well as impactful global cybercriminal takedowns, the company says.