US offers $15 million reward for information on LockBit leaders

He Department in state American launched this Wednesday a reward of up to US$15 million for information leading to the arrest of the leaders of the malicious program BlockConnected to Russiaused to demand ransoms under threat of blackmail.

This announcement comes after it became known on Tuesday that a total of ten countries, including U.Sthey carried out a international operation against a network that used the malicious program Block demand ransoms under threat of blackmail.

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According to the State Department, since January 2020, actors in the Block They have carried out more than 2,000 attacks around the world against facilities such as hospitals or city halls and against companies of all sizes.

It is estimated that they were carried out more than 144 million dollars in ransom payments to overcome these attacks.

The United States also announced sanctions against two people involved in Blocka group based on Russia responsible, for example, for the attack on ransomware November 2023 against the American brokerl Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

“Russia continues to provide a safe haven for cybercriminals, where groups like Block They are free to launch attacks ransomware against U.S, its allies and partners. These attacks ransomware “They target critical infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and financial institutions,” noted the Treasury Department.

The two sanctioned are Russian citizens Ivan Gennadievich Kondratiev and Artur Sungatov, who actively participated in attacks with this malicious program.

Source: Elcomercio

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