In a major operation led by Britain’s National Crime Agency and the FBI, members of the notorious Lockbit ransomware gang have been arrested and indicted.
The United States has charged two Russian nationals for deploying Lockbit ransomware against numerous companies and groups worldwide, while police in Poland and Ukraine have made two additional arrests.
The joint efforts of the NCA, U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, and Europol culminated in the disruption of the Lockbit gang, which has targeted over 2,000 victims globally, amassing over $120 million in ransom payments and demanding hundreds of millions more, according to the DOJ.
The NCA Cyber Division, in collaboration with U.S. authorities, seized control of Lockbit’s websites and infrastructure, even utilizing the gang’s own website to release internal data about the group.
Graeme Biggar, director general of the NCA, declared, “We have hacked the hackers… Lockbit is effectively redundant. Lockbit has been locked out.”
The unsealed indictment, obtained in New Jersey, charges Artur Sungatov and Ivan Kondratyev with deploying Lockbit ransomware against victims across various industries globally.
International coalition
Operation Cronos, as the takedown was named, involved an international coalition of 10 countries.
It resulted in arrests, indictments, and sanctions against perpetrators, as well as unprecedented access to Lockbit’s systems, the NCA revealed.
Ransomware, like that employed by Lockbit, encrypts data and extorts payment from victims for decryption.
Lockbit’s affiliates, recruited by the gang, conduct attacks and share ransom proceeds, usually in cryptocurrency.
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