A multinational coalition of law enforcement agencies, which includes the FBI and UK National Crime Agency, has claimed to have disrupted one of the most prolific hacker groups, LockBit. In addition, they have shut down the websites that the organisation used for ransomware payments.
According to a post on the gang’s website Monday, it has been taken “under the control” of law enforcement agencies from the UK, the FBI, and others, the New York Times reported.
The operation involved law enforcement from 11 different countries and involved the seizure of 11,000 domains that were utilized by LockBit and its affiliates for the facilitation of ransomware, an FBI official revealed. The operation, which disrupted LockBit’s infrastructure and targeted its malware deployment system, took place in recent days, the official said.
LockBit specializes in utilizing ransomware to encrypt files on victims’ computers, subsequently demanding payment to unlock the files. The operation involves recruiting hackers to conduct the cyberattacks using LockBit’s tools and infrastructure, with LockBit receiving a portion of any ransom extorted in the hacks.
The hacking group was responsible for last year’s attack on the US arm of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, which disrupted the US$26bil (RM124.59bil) US Treasury market. It also took down a website that Boeing Co uses to sell spare aircraft parts, software and services.
LockBit first rose to prominence in 2021 as LockBit 1.0, followed by an update to LockBit 2.0 in 2022, and its latest iteration, LockBit Green. The group’s most recent victim was EquilLend, a trading platform that processes trillions of dollars of transactions each month, which experienced an incident on Jan 22 that affected some of its automated securities lending services.
The FBI reported that the hacking group has claimed 1,600 victims in the US and 2,000 internationally, with the majority being within the private sector. The FBI is also tracking 144 million ransoms paid in relation to LockBit attacks. – Bloomberg
