European authorities take down criminal VPN service

A joint international operation led by French and Dutch authorities, with the participation of the UK and 15 other countries, dismantled First VPN on 19-20 May 2026. First VPN was an anonymisation service marketed on Russian-speaking cybercrime forums as a reliable way to avoid law enforcement detection. Widely used by ransomware groups, fraudsters and cybercriminals involved in data theft, the service enabled users to conceal their identity and location while carrying out cyber-attacks.