Police Target Violent Online Predators Incubated by the Com

28 Countries Join Forces to Pursue Violent Online Extremism Targeting Children Mathew J. Schwartz (euroinfosec) • February 26, 2026

A global law enforcement initiative to coordinate the disruption of violent online extremism targeting minors and vulnerable individuals swept up 30 suspected members of "The Com," the decentralized, largely Western adolescent cybercrime community.

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Codenamed Project Compass and launched one year ago by Europol, the European Union's law enforcement intelligence agency, the initiative was designed to undermine the sprawling network of teens and twenty-somethings loosely coalesced into collectives dedicated to hacking, sextortion and physical crime.

Europol said police have additionally fully or partially identified 179 perpetrators. Police are pursuing spinoffs such as 764, described by the U.S. Department of Justice as being a "nihilistic violent extremist group" (see: Cybersecurity Trends: What's in Store for Defenders in 2026 ...