A coalition of worldwide legislation enforcement businesses, together with the FBI and the U.Ok.’s Nationwide Crime Company, have disrupted the operations of the prolific LockBit ransomware gang.
LockBit’s dark-web leak web site — the place the group publicly lists its victims and threatens to leak their stolen information except a ransom demand is paid — was changed with a legislation enforcement discover on Monday.
“This web site is now beneath the management of the Nationwide Crime Company of the UK, working in shut cooperation with the FBI and the worldwide legislation enforcement process drive, ‘Operation Cronos,’ the message reads. “We will affirm that Lockbit’s providers have been disrupted on account of Worldwide Regulation Enforcement motion — that is an ongoing and growing operation.”
The downed extortion web page additionally options the logos of Europol and different worldwide police organizations from France, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, and Germany.
Hattie Hafenrichter, a spokesperson for the U.Ok.’s Nationwide Crime Company, confirmed to information.killnetswitch that “LockBit providers have been disrupted on account of worldwide legislation enforcement motion,” including that that is an “ongoing and growing operation.”
Additional particulars in regards to the operation, reminiscent of whether or not any arrests have been made, are unknown, with extra particulars set to be introduced in a while Tuesday.
Nevertheless, LockBit’s operators are believed to be primarily based in Russia, making an arrest unlikely. Previous to Monday’s takedown, the group claimed on its darkish net leak web site that it was “situated within the Netherlands, utterly apolitical and solely focused on cash.”
Because it first emerged as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation in late 2019, LockBit has change into one of many world’s most prolific cybercrime gangs. Based on U.S. cybersecurity officers, LockBit has been utilized in roughly 1,800 ransomware assaults in opposition to sufferer programs in america and worldwide, and the group has been related to roughly $91 million in ransoms paid.
LockBit and its associates have claimed duty for hacking among the world’s largest organizations. The group final 12 months claimed duty for assaults in opposition to aerospace big Boeing, chipmaker TSMC, and U.Ok. postal big Royal Mail. In latest months, LockBit has claimed duty for a ransomware assault on Georgia’s Fulton County that has disrupted key county providers for weeks and for a cyberattack concentrating on India’s state-owned aerospace analysis lab.
This can be a growing story.
