Australian cops cuff alleged TeamPCP masterminds

Australian police have arrested two men in Perth, alleged to be the masterminds of TeamPCP, a cybercrime gang responsible for significant supply chain attacks. The Federal Police (AFP) stated that the 21-year-old and 23-year-old were key players in the illicit activities and received compensation in cryptocurrency for their involvement.

FBI Facebook post identified one of the arrested men as Ruben Thomson, who was described as the alleged leader of TeamPCP. The other man, 23-year-old Louis Michael Gaebler, was reported by Australian media. Investigations into the pair commenced in April 2026 following intel from multiple cyber threat assessment companies about a syndicate inserting malicious code into open-source software.

TeamPCP's attacks allegedly compromised over 1000 organizations worldwide, resulting in the theft of more than 500,000 credentials and the exfiltration of at least 300 gigabytes of data. Australian authorities estimate the financial impact of these attacks to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The arrested men were found with electronic devices, which are currently being forensically examined. Further arrests and charges are possible as the investigation remains ongoing.