Lockbit A notorious cybercriminal group was disrupted this week Britain’s National Crime Agency announced that it is under their control. Here’s how this gang targeted organizations.
On Tuesday (Feb 20), Britain’s National Crime Agency announced they have smashed “the world’s most harmful cybercrime group” in a global operation. The NCA director general, Graeme Biggar, mentioned this group managed to “infiltrate and significantly disrupt” the organization. Previously this group had targeted Britain’s Royal Mail and a Canadian children’s hospital last year.
Biggar said we have hacked the hackers. And revealed that in the past year, LockBit had been behind 25 percent of all attacks.” As of today, LockBit has been locked out,” He also mentioned that LockBit was targeted as part of Operation Cronos, a task force involving the NCA, the FBI, and agencies from nine other countries. LockBit’s website, which sells services for organizing cyber attacks and holding data for ransom, was taken over on Monday evening. A message was published on the site stating that it was “now under the control of law enforcement”.
The message further stated, “This site is now under the control of The National Crime Agency of the UK, working in close cooperation with the FBI and the international law enforcement task force, ‘Operation Cronos’.” US Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri revealed that LockBit had targeted over 2,000 victims worldwide. This includes Britain and the United States, this country had received more than US$120 million in ransomware payments. In January 2023, US law enforcers shut down the hive ransomware operation. This gang had extorted some US$100 million from over 1,500 victims worldwide. Making Lockbit the biggest current threat.
About Lockbit and how it targets organizations?
Lockbit was discovered in 2020 on cybercrime forums in Russia, where they shared their harmful software. Some experts think the group might be Russian-based. However, they haven’t declared loyalty to any government, and no government has officially tied them to a specific country. This digital extortion gang infects organizations with ransomware, which locks up data. Eventually forcing them to pay a ransom to unlock it. They typically ask for payment in cryptocurrency, which is difficult to trace and keeps the receiver anonymous.
