International law enforcement agencies have arrested two members of the famous LockBit hacker group. The websites that the organization used to pay the ransom have also been closed. This was reported by the Europol press service.
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LockBit is recognized as the most widespread and harmful ransomware in the world, causing damage worth billions of euros.
This international operation is the result of a complex investigation carried out by the UK National Crime Agency as part of an international working group known as Operation Kronos, coordinated at the European level by Europol and Eurojust.
Law enforcement officers seized 34 servers in the Netherlands, Germany, Finland , France, Switzerland, Australia, USA and UK.
In addition, at the request of the French judicial authorities, two members of the LockBit hacker group were arrested in Poland and Ukraine. Judicial authorities in France and the United States also issued three international arrest warrants and five indictments.
During the investigation of the case, more than 200 cryptocurrency accounts associated with the criminal organization were frozen.
Currently, a large amount of data collected during the investigation is at the disposal of law enforcement agencies. This data will be used to support ongoing international operational efforts aimed at identifying the leaders of this group, as well as the developers, affiliates, infrastructure and criminal assets associated with these criminal activities.
The world's most harmful ransomware
LockBit first appeared in late 2019, initially calling itself “ABCD” ransomware. Since then, it has developed rapidly and in 2022 has become the most common ransomware variant worldwide.
The hacking group also offered its services, that is, the core team creates malicious software and runs its website, while licensing its code to affiliates carrying out attacks.
LockBit attacks are seen around the world: hundreds of affiliates individuals are recruited to conduct ransomware operations using LockBit tools and infrastructure.
Ransom payments were distributed between the LockBit core team and affiliates, who received an average of three-quarters of the ransom payments collected.
Victims
According to the FBI, the hacker group claimed 1,600 victims in the United States and 2,000 abroad. Most of them are from the private sector. The FBI said it is tracking 144 million ransoms paid in connection with LockBit attacks, Bloomberg reports.
Decryption tool
Law enforcement has created a decryption tool that LockBit victims can use to unlock their systems without paying a ransom.
Europol noted that this tool is available in 37 languages and has already helped more than 6 million victims around the world.