Two foreign nationals, Ruslan Magomedovich Astamirov and Mikhail Vasiliev, pleaded guilty in Newark federal court for their roles in the LockBit ransomware<\/a> operation. The LockBit ransomware operation has been active since January 2020, the group hit over 2,500 victims across 120 countries, including 1,800 in the U.S.. The group targeted individuals, businesses, hospitals, schools, and government agencies. The group extracted approximately $500 million in ransom payments, causing billions in broader losses.
“LockBit\u2019s \u201caffiliate\u201d members, including Vasiliev and Astamirov, would first identity and unlawfully access vulnerable computer systems. They would then deploy LockBit ransomware on victim computer systems and both steal and encrypt stored data. After a successful LockBit attack, LockBit\u2019s affiliate members would then demand a ransom from their victims in exchange for decrypting the victims\u2019 data and deleting stolen data.” reads the press release<\/strong><\/a> published by DoJ. “When victims did not pay the demanded ransoms, LockBit\u2019s affiliates would then leave the victim\u2019s data permanently encrypted and publish the stolen data, including highly sensitive information, on a publicly accessible Internet site under LockBit\u2019s control.
In May 2024, the FBI, UK National Crime Agency, and Europol unmasked<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0the identity of the admin\u00a0of the\u00a0LockBit<\/a>\u00a0ransomware operation, aka \u2018LockBitSupp\u2019 and \u2018putinkrab\u2019 , and issued sanctions against him. It was the first time that the admin of the notorious group was identified by law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May 2023, the US Justice Department\u00a0charged<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Russian national Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev (30), aka Wazawaka, m1x, Boriselcin, and Uhodiransomwar, for his alleged role in multiple ransomware attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On or about June 25, 2020, Matveev and his LockBit coconspirators targeted a law enforcement agency in Passaic County, New Jersey. On or about May 27, 2022, the man and his Hive coconspirators allegedly hit a nonprofit behavioral healthcare organization in New Jersey. On April 26, 2021, Matveev and his Babuk coconspirators hit the\u00a0Metropolitan Police Department<\/a>\u00a0in Washington, D.C.
The US government also charged in the past other LockBit members,\u00a0including Artur Sungatov<\/a> and\u00a0Ivan Kondratyev<\/a>\u00a0(Bassterlord).
Pierluigi Paganini<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs<\/strong><\/a> and Facebook<\/strong><\/a> and Mastodon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
(<\/strong>SecurityAffairs<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013<\/strong>\u00a0hacking,\u00a0ransomware)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"