EUROPOL-BACKED OPERATION DISMANTLES ILLEGAL STREAMING NETWORKS

A major international law enforcement operation has dismantled 9 organised crime groups behind illegal streaming services.

Operation KRATOS 2, coordinated by Bulgaria with support from Europol, ran from September 2025 to April 2026 and targeted criminal networks distributing unauthorised access to premium sports, film and television content.

The operation resulted in 29 arrests, 86 suspects identified and 148 house searches. Authorities also removed 27,332 illegal streaming URLs and reported 169 domains.

Europol said the investigation focused not only on taking down websites, but on disrupting the wider criminal ecosystem behind illegal IPTV and streaming platforms.

The groups used complex technical infrastructure, separating customer-facing websites from servers hosting illegal content and distributing operations across several countries to avoid detection.

Investigators identified 722,961 infringing objects, while cooperation with private sector partners helped uncover 4,370 new piracy-linked domains, 18,331 associated IP addresses and 397,384 URLs for suspension or removal.

Europol co-led operational coordination with Bulgaria’s General Directorate Combating Organised Crime, supporting intelligence exchange, cross-border cooperation and technical analysis.

Participating countries included Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, the UK and the US.

Europol worked with audiovisual and anti-piracy partners including AAPA, ACE/MPA, LALIGA, UEFA, Friend MTS, beIN Media Group and Irdeto.

Authorities warned that illegal streaming services expose users not only to copyright infringement, but also to malware, spyware, data theft and other cybersecurity risks.

Source: broadbandtvnews.com