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The story
A Russian national (28), believed to be a core member of the ransomware group “Qilin,” was detained by Japanese investigators while visiting Japan and handed over to German authorities investigating him on extortion charges, the Asahi Shimbun reports. Qilin is known for encrypting corporate systems and demanding payment, and its attacks have drawn attention domestically as well. In the thread, reactions ranged from surprise that the group shares its name with a creature from Chinese mythology, to questions about why Japan handed him to Germany instead of arresting him itself, to speculation linking the case to a recent string of unauthorized-access incidents.
Oct 6 (Tue), 5:00 AM JST
Asahi Shimbun
Japanese investigators have detained a Russian national (28) believed to be a core member of “Qilin,” a ransomware group that has repeatedly carried out cyberattacks on companies worldwide. On the 2nd, Japan handed him over to German authorities, who are investigating him on extortion charges.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
You think he'd actually work properly though?
The police will restore them for you (sarcasm)
The part where Babel II storms into the hideout in Yomi's lair (Yomi is the series' main villain)
German prisons are basically paradise — you can even bring in a TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqVQzA0uc44
Attack tools are sold all over the dark web, so anyone anywhere could pull this off. Though it's true Russia and North Korea are putting serious effort into cyber ops…
Germany told them who the guy was, so they had no choice but to hand him over…
Honestly, tracking this stuff down first should be the Public Security Bureau's job… take the hint
There's probably a reason he was in Japan of all places…
Because he got sent to Germany
And it's supposed to be a symbol of peace — a gentle creature that wouldn't hurt a bug or even step on a blade of grass
Guess it's just a national culture where stealing gets you praised 🤔
Scam/fraud rings: Cambodia, China
Those are the big players, I guess?
He's not getting prosecuted anyway, so what's even the point of arresting him
At least read the article
He's already been handed over to Germany
Seriously? This country really is useless
Japan hadn't even identified him as the culprit on its own — they couldn't even get an arrest warrant.
So technically it wasn't an "arrest" by Japan — just a detention and handover based entirely on Germany's request
Same as with the US requests — if they can arrest someone just by being asked, doesn't that mean Public Security already had his location tracked from the moment he entered the country?
Specialized in PC skills, but deep down he must be an idiot
Japan has no anti-espionage law, so it's seen as a criminal-friendly country — even the "watch thief" (a foreign repeat offender notorious for publicly calling Japan easy pickings) said as much. There are probably a ton of others like him too
Detaining him was a good job, but does that mean he got handed over before Japan's own investigation was even finished?
Germany requested the detention of a Russian national, and Japanese police just did exactly that — they probably didn't fully grasp the situation themselves.
Once Germany's interrogation progresses, they'll likely share information back with Japan
It says here they were investigating jointly, though
Background and key points of this story
Qilin is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) hacker group active since around 2022, known for its “double extortion” method of encrypting corporate systems and stealing data before demanding payment. Overseas, its attacks on healthcare organizations have caused serious disruption, and domestically it’s been linked to the system outage at major brewer Asahi Group. What split opinion in the thread was why Japan didn’t arrest him itself and instead handed him to Germany. According to the article and later replies, Japan had no independent arrest warrant in this case — this was a “detention” and “handover” carried out at Germany’s request. Many were also struck by the fact that the group shares its name with the qilin, the auspicious creature from Chinese mythology, though the article doesn’t explain the reasoning behind the name, and the thread’s discussion of it never gets past speculation.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Core member of ransomware group Qilin detained in Japan — Asahi also among the “attacked”“.
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