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Dutch police have seized dozens of servers from a data centre in Limburg as part of an international operation against a hosting company accused of sheltering cybercriminals. This action has also given investigators a possible lead on thousands of the company’s clients.
What happened
The Cybercrime Team of the Central Netherlands police seized about 50 physical servers at a Limburg data centre in late October. Since those machines also ran hundreds of virtual servers, taking them offline disrupted a large part of the criminal infrastructure all at once.
Police say the hosting company acted as a so-called bulletproof hoster. Since 2022, its services have been linked to serious cybercrimes, including ransomware attacks, botnets, infostealer malware, phishing, and the distribution of child-abuse material.
What is ‘bulletproof hosting’?
This term refers to hosting firms that deliberately serve criminal clients. While legitimate providers act quickly when abuse is reported, bulletproof hosts promise customers anonymity and protection from authorities. They often advertise on underground forums and accept anonymous payments in cryptocurrency. Police stressed that most Dutch hosting companies do act against misuse; only a small minority, knowingly or not, enable criminal activity.
The significance: 3,000 customers
The most important part of the operation is not the hardware, but the data. By seizing the servers, police say they have obtained information on more than 3,000 customers who used them for criminal activities. Investigators are now working to identify which users may be involved in offences. This means the seizure could be the start of many more investigations, not just the end of one.
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An international effort
The Dutch action was part of a larger, internationally coordinated operation. At the same time, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and German police acted against suspects, seized cryptocurrency, and worked to take the company’s infrastructure offline worldwide, including seizing its domain name. The US Department of Justice also announced action against a site called Virtualine, with help from Dutch, British, and German authorities. However, police have not confirmed if the two cases are directly connected.
Context
Police have not said exactly where in Limburg the servers were located, since the criminal servers were kept alongside legitimate ones in the same data centre. It is also not clear if anyone has been arrested in the Netherlands. This operation is the latest in a series of Dutch actions against rogue hosting. In February 2025, Amsterdam police seized 127 servers from a provider called XHost, and in July this year, police raided the host used by an abuse-material website. This fits into a broader national effort against cybercrime, which authorities say is growing, with millions of Dutch people falling victim each year. For police, taking down the infrastructure that criminals use (like hosting, servers, and anonymity) has become a key tactic. This seizure, with its large amount of customer data, is an important step.