Germany’s Cybercrime Chief on Disrupting Cybercrime’s Biggest Adversaries

Show notes

Hello to all our cyber pals!

This week, Selena is joined by Carsten Meywirth, head of the Cybercrime Division at Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), to talk about how law enforcement is taking the fight to cybercriminals and why he believes the good guys are gaining ground.

With more than 40 years in policing, Carsten traces the BKA’s cybercrime work from a two-person team in the 1990s to a dedicated division of roughly 300 people (and growing). He explains how the threat landscape changed: the rise of the crime-as-a-service economy around 2015, COVID-19 pushing everyone onto remote infrastructure (and criminals taking advantage of it), and Russia’s war against Ukraine accelerating some parts of the ecosystem. . He also describes how investigating cybercrime turns the traditional approach upside down. Investigators start with a victim and a digital crime scene, then follow the traces back to a real person.

The conversation covers:

What the Conti leaks revealed about ransomware groups that run like corporations, with CEOs, HR departments and IT teams
The BKA’s four pillars for fighting cybercrime: targeting actors, taking down infrastructure, following the money and disrupting criminal communications
How the 2021 Emotet takedown became the model for modern disruption operations
Operation Endgame, the largest public-private partnership cyber operation to date, which goes after droppers and loaders early in the ransomware kill chain, and the anime-style videos designed to spread mistrust in the underground
Why personal trust is what makes international and public-private cooperation work
The AI-enabled threats that concern him most, and how investigators are using AI too
Why he stays optimistic, and the one thing he wants every business leader and government official to understand about cybercrime

Tune in to hear how law enforcement and the private sector are coming together to raise the stakes for cybercriminals. As Carsten reminds us, the good guys always win.

Resources Mentioned:

https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/pressemitteilungen/EN/2026/05/lagebild-cybercrime.html

https://www.operation-endgame.com/

https://www.europol.europa.eu/how-we-work/operations/operation-poweroff

https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-insight/stealc-you-later-proofpoint-and-ibm-x-force-support-operation-endgame

https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-insight/sayonara-socgholish-operation-endgame-disrupts-major-cybercrime-operation

For more information about Proofpoint, check out our website.

Subscribe & Follow:

Stay ahead of emerging threats, and subscribe! Happy hunting!

← Previous

FOMO as an Attack Vector: How Fake Party Invites Are Hijacking Inboxes

Send us fan mail! Hello to all our cyber pals! This week, Selena is joined by Carsten Meywirth, head of the Cybercrime Division at Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), to talk about how law enforcement is taking the fight to cybercriminals and why he believes the good guys are gaining ground. With more than 40 years in policing, Carsten traces the BKA’s cybercrime work from a two-person team in the 1990s to a dedicated division of roughly 300 people (and growing). He explains how the threat landscape changed: the rise of the crime-as-a-service economy around 2015, COVID-19 pushing everyone onto remote infrastructure (and criminals taking advantage of it), and Russia’s war against Ukraine accelerating some parts of the ecosystem. . He also describes how investigating cybercrime turns the traditional approach upside down. Investigators start with a victim and a digital crime scene, then follow the traces back to a real person. The conversation covers: What the Conti leaks revealed about ransomware groups that run like corporations, with CEOs, HR departments and IT teams The BKA’s four pillars for fighting cybercrime: targeting actors, taking down infrastructure, following the money and disrupting criminal communications How the 2021 Emotet takedown became the model for modern disruption operations Operation Endgame, the largest public-private partnership cyber operation to date, which goes after droppers and loaders early in the ransomware kill chain, and the anime-style videos designed to spread mistrust in the underground Why personal trust is what makes international and public-private cooperation work The AI-enabled threats that concern him most, and how investigators are using AI too Why he stays optimistic, and the one thing he wants every business leader and government official to understand about cybercrime Tune in to hear how law enforcement and the private sector are coming together to raise the stakes for cybercriminals. As Carsten reminds us, the good guys always win. Resources Mentioned: https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/pressemitteilungen/EN/2026/05/lagebild-cybercrime.html https://www.operation-endgame.com/ https://www.europol.europa.eu/how-we-work/operations/operation-poweroff https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-insight/stealc-you-later-proofpoint-and-ibm-x-force-support-operation-endgame https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-insight/sayonara-socgholish-operation-endgame-disrupts-major-cybercrime-operation For more information about Proofpoint, check out our website . Subscribe & Follow: Stay ahead of emerging threats, and subscribe! Happy hunting!